Donald Trump Jr. communicated with the WikiLeaks Twitter account during the 2016 election, according to a new report.
WikiLeaks contacted Trump Jr. for the first time in September 2016 and continued reaching out until at least July 2017, the Atlantic reported on Monday. WikiLeaks, which has leaked information such as emails from the Democratic National Committee, first reached out to Trump regarding an anti-Trump site.
“A PAC run anti-Trump site putintrump.org is about to launch,” WikiLeaks wrote in a private message. “The PAC is a recycled pro-Iraq war PAC. We have guessed the password. It is ‘putintrump.’ See ‘About’ for who is behind it. Any comments?”
“Off the record I don’t know who that is, but I’ll ask around,” Trump responded. “Thanks.”
In response, Trump Jr. then emailed other senior officials from the Trump campaign such as Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, as well as President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to notify them WikiLeaks had reached out. Kushner then passed it along to communications staffer Hope Hicks, a source told the Atlantic.
WikiLeaks continued to reach out to make requests, and although Trump Jr. did not always respond, at one point he tweeted the content WikiLeaks had sent him.
For those who have the time to read about all the corruption and hypocrisy all the @wikileaks emails are right here: https://t.co/SGcEeM9rCS
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 14, 2016
Although the correspondence was primarily one-sided, it shows WikiLeaks actively sought help from Trump Jr. The organization made requests concerning President Trump’s tax returns, urged the Trump campaign to say the election results had been rigged, and asked that then-President-elect Trump advise Australia to appoint WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as ambassador to the U.S.
“We can say with confidence that we have no concerns about these documents and any questions raised about them have been easily answered in the appropriate forum,” Alan Futerfas, an attorney for Trump Jr. told the Atlantic.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-CA, the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, responded by saying if true, the communication shows a “willingness” from the Trump campaign to accept foreign assistance.
“If these allegations are true, and Donald Trump Jr.’s attorney does not appear to contest the authenticity of the direct messages, it is yet another secret communication between the Trump campaign and cut-outs for the Kremlin,” Schiff said in a statement. “That Donald Trump Jr. and Wikileaks would discuss coordinating their efforts to highlight information damaging to Clinton – with what appears to be real-time follow-through by candidate Donald Trump on Twitter to amplify one of Wikileaks’ document dumps as requested – demonstrates once again a willingness by the highest levels of the Trump campaign to accept foreign assistance.”
The messages have been given to Congress as several committees are investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin during the 2016 election. Special counsel Robert Muller is also investigating if the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
