Julian Assange preferred the GOP candidate over Hillary Clinton and encouraged his followers to help him clear his name by becoming ‘the trolls they want to see in the world’, messages reviewed by the Intercept have revealed.
More than 11,000 messages from a private Twitter group that included some of Assange’s biggest supporters show the Wikileaks founder sharing his opinion on a variety of issues, from the 2016 presidential election to his opinion on Chelsea Manning.
The Intercept assumes the messages sent by the Wikileaks page are from Assange, as it is widely understood that he controls the page himself. Wikileaks has not commented on the accuracy of the messages.
The Twitter group, which had about 10 members, was described as a ‘low security channel for some very long term and reliable supporters who are on twitter’ and was dubbed the ‘WikiLeaks Task Force’ by Assange, who often made misogynistic and anti-Semitic remarks.
More than 11,000 messages from a private Twitter group that included some of Assange’s biggest supporters show the Wikileaks founder sharing his opinion on a variety of issues
Writing from the Wikileaks account, Assange called Hillary Clinton a ‘a bright, well connected, sadistic sociopath’, and said it would be better for the GOP to win the presidency
The messages, sent between May 2015 and November 2017, were leaked by a former WikiLeaks volunteer known as ‘Hazelpress’ who said he considers them of public interest after news came out that Wikileaks had secret contact with Donald Trump Jr., urged Trump to reject the election’s results if he lost, and asked him to consider using his connections to get Assange an Australian ambassadorship.
Although his disdain for Clinton is well-documented, the newly-revealed messages appear to be further proof that Assange preferred the GOP over the Democratic candidate for president.
In November 19, 2015, using the Wikileaks account, Assange wrote: ‘We believe it would be much better for GOP to win.
Although Assange’s disdain for Clinton is well-documented, the newly-revealed messages are more proof that Assange preferred the GOP over her (pictured Trump and Clinton in October
When an email released by the State Department showed Clinton asking her Chief of Staff the meaning of FUBAR – f***** up beyond all recognition – an amused Assange weighed in
‘Dems+Media+liberals would then form a block to reign in their worst qualities. With Hillary in charge, GOP will be pushing for her worst qualities; dems+media+neoliberals will be mute.’
The Wikileaks boss paused for two minutes before finishing his thought, adding: ‘She’s a bright, well connected, sadistic sociopath.’
The same day Assange shared more of his opinion on Clinton, writing that the former Secretary of State’s role in the war in Libya ‘is what should bring her down’, but the ‘GOP is too close to others who have benefit to exploit this’.
‘That Hillary helped to sew the foundation for ISIS against pentagon generals advice seems huge. But the GOP resolutely ignores it. Hillary so so much slime on her shirt it is now hard to dirt stick,’ Assange concluded.
On March 2, after Trump emerged as the front-runner on Super Tuesday, Assange wrote: ‘Perhaps Hillary will have a stroke.’
When an email released by the State Department, and republished by Wikileaks, showed Clinton asking her Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills the meaning of FUBAR – f***** up beyond all recognition – an amused Assange weighed in.
‘WikiLeaks took Hillary’s FUBAR virginity,’ he wrote on October 2015.
Assange gave his thoughts on Russia, saying the Kremlin is paranoid about foreign-funded NGOs because they push ‘invading western cultural practices like gays and the internet’
The Wikileaks founder coached supporters on how to troll online, advising them to change their profile pictures to hide their identity
The leaked messages also reveal Assange’s attitude towards political strategist Roger Stone, who during the final months of the 2016 election claimed he had inside knowledge on the information Wikileaks would publish.
Assange dismissed the claims, and in August 2016 called Stone a ‘bullsh**ter’.
He added: ‘[Stone is] Trying to a) imply that he knows anything b) that he contributed to our hard work.’
The Wikileaks founder also shared his take on Russia’s geopolitics, telling the private Twitter group the Kremlin is paranoid about foreign-funded NGOs because they push ‘invading western cultural practices like gays and the internet’.
He also claimed all of Russia’s military bases were under threat and that ‘the U.S. hacks the hell out of it, and attempts to foment an orange revolution in an explicitly stated policy of regime change.’
The Wikileaks founder asks his followers to ‘be the trolls they want to see in the world’ and go after his critics online (pictured left is blogger Laurie Pennie and right is journalist Chris Cook)
Assange asked the group to ‘please troll this BBC idiot,’ referring to journalist Chris Cook who had called Assange a ‘bail-jumper fleeing charges of rape’ in a tweet
Aside from sharing his opinions, Assange coached his supporters on how to troll critics, telling them to ‘Be the troll you want to see in the world’.
He encouraged them to create fake accounts and change their profile pictures if they wanted to cause chaos online with ‘plausible deniability’.
In one exchange, Assange asked the group to ‘please troll this BBC idiot,’ referring to journalist Chris Cook who had called Assange a ‘bail-jumper fleeing charges of rape’ in a tweet.
In another go at a journalist, Assange went after Associated Press reporter Raphael Satter, in what seems like an anti-Semitic attack.
‘He’s always been a rat, but he’s Jewish and engaged with the ((()))) issue,’ wrote Assange, referencing the parenthesis used by neo-Nazi groups to identify Jews online.
In another go at a journalist, Assange went after Associated Press reporter Raphael Satter
Assange went after AP reporter Raphael Satter,in what seems like an anti-Semitic attack, using the parenthesis used by neo-Nazi groups to identify Jews online
The Twitter group was also particularly focused on discrediting the rape case against Assange, who has lived at the Ecuadorian embassy in London for years as he fights extradition to Sweden for what he says are political reasons.
Although Sweden is no longer seeking his extradition, Assange still has an active arrest warrant in the United Kingdom.
One of the group’s strategies to discredit the case was going after lawyer Elisabeth Fritz, who represents one of the women who have accused Assange of sexual assault.
Assange told his supporters it was convenient for Swedish lawyers to take on rape causes because ‘the accusation industry is highly profitable’. He accused Fritz of working with Sweden’s chief prosecutor Marianne Ny to ‘tag-team the accused’.
As part of his campaign against critics, Assange encouraged the group to leave ‘nasty/damaging review quotes’ on Laura Poitras’ documentary about WikiLeaks called ‘Risk’
Laura Poitras’ documentary about WikiLeaks was critical of Assange’s handling of the accusations of sexual misconduct against him
‘Money, influence, glamour for women helping women imprison men,’ Assange wrote of a picture of Fritz at her firm that he shared with the group.
‘It may not be your type of feminism, but they don’t care,’ he added.
British blogger Laurie Penny was also a target for Assange, who called her a ‘fake leftist, and a manipulative, predatory exhibitionist’.
He also called her a member of the ‘cliterati’.
As part of his campaign against critics, Assange encouraged the group to leave ‘nasty/damaging review quotes’ on Laura Poitras’ documentary about WikiLeaks called ‘Risk.’
Assange also discussed his view on one of his most famous former informants, Chelsea Manning, who served seven years of a 35-year sentence for leaking classified information to WikiLeaks.
One of the group’s strategies to discredit the case was going after lawyer Elisabeth Fritz, who represents one of the women who have accused Assange of sexual assault
Assange also discussed his view on one of his most famous former informants, Chelsea Manning. ‘Manning does have a Y chromosome and male genitalia,’ Assange wrote
The site’s founder defends the idea that Chelsea, formerly Bradley, should be referred to by her chosen gender. Still, he argues that, for political reasons, an artist working on a statue of the whistle-blower should depict her as male.
‘Manning does have a Y chromosome and male genitalia,’ Assange wrote.
He added that ‘it makes sense to not draw attention to the sex issue’ in conservative places because depicting Manning as a female ‘would have turned off audiences in most countries’.