Lots of high stakes spin here, making things hard to parse. The RawStory headline is:
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/ju...on-if-he-would-lie-about-russias-dnc-hacking/
This seems based on this Tweet:
Source: https://twitter.com/jamesdoleman/status/1230164682700443648
And this one:
Source: https://twitter.com/benlewismedia/status/1230172453185429505
Of course, if you are on the side that claims that Russia actually had nothing to do with the 2016 leak, then this isn't encouraging him to lie, it's encouraging him to tell the truth. It's unclear right now how Assange characterizes the truthiness of what he was asked to say.
It might even simply be a reference to the same story back in 2017
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/15/roh...rump-deal-on-absolving-wikileaks-assange.html
So what's new? Assange (or his lawyer) referencing this deal in court. Will this actually show that the people asking him this were asking him to lie? Or asking him to confirm what they thought (at the time) was true?
Trump supporters, of course, will read this as the latter. But, as extensively documented in the Muller report, based on work by the US intelligence services, the Russians DID orchestrate the DNC leak.
https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf
Assange has previously pushed (but not explicitly laid out) the idea that the leak actually came from DNC staffer Seth Rich, who later died in what Law Enforcement described as a "botched robbery".
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/ju...on-if-he-would-lie-about-russias-dnc-hacking/
Source: https://twitter.com/jamesdoleman/status/1230164682700443648
Source: https://twitter.com/benlewismedia/status/1230172453185429505
It might even simply be a reference to the same story back in 2017
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/15/roh...rump-deal-on-absolving-wikileaks-assange.html
Trump supporters, of course, will read this as the latter. But, as extensively documented in the Muller report, based on work by the US intelligence services, the Russians DID orchestrate the DNC leak.
https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf
Last edited: