The Year Long Trump Flunky Effort to Free Julian Assange
The Year Long Trump Flunky Effort to Free Julian Assange
https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/12/04/the-number-of-times-assange-tried-to-coerce-release/
The NYT has an unbelievable story about how Paul Manafort went to Ecuador to try to get Julian Assange turned over. I say it’s unbelievable because it is 28 paragraphs long, yet it never once explains whether Assange would be turned over to the US for prosecution or for a golf retirement. Instead, the story stops short multiple times of what it implies: that Manafort was there as part of paying off Trump’s part of a deal, but the effort stopped as soon as Mueller was appointed.
Within a couple of days of Mr. Manafort’s final meeting in Quito, Robert S. Mueller III was appointed as the special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and related matters, and it quickly became clear that Mr. Manafort was a primary target. His talks with Ecuador ended without any deals.
The story itself — which given that it stopped once Mueller was appointed must be a limited hangout revealing that Manafort tried to free Assange, complete with participation from the spox that Manafort unbelievably continues to employ from his bankrupt jail cell — doesn’t surprise me at all.
After all, the people involved in the election conspiracy made multiple efforts to free Assange.
WikiLeaks kicked off the effort at least by December, when they sent a DM to Don Jr suggesting Trump making him Australian Ambassador to the US.
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