WikiLeaks on Tuesday set up a legal fund to sue the Guardian, after the paper published a story saying former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange secretly met multiple times.
WikiLeaks announced it had launched a GoFundMe to sue the Guardian “for publishing entirely fabricated story […] which spread all over the world today.”
WikiLeaks launches legal fund to sue the Guardian for publishing entirely fabricated story “Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy” — which spread all over the world today. It is time the Guardian paid a price for fabricating news. https://t.co/VaoMESN5RO
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 27, 2018
The GoFundMe page has a goal of $300,000, and had raised more than $12,000 as of 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, after an hour of being active.
The Guardian had reported that Manafort secretly met with Assange in 2013, 2015, and 2016 at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
According to the report, which was written in London and Ecuador, the last meeting took place in March 2016, right before WikiLeaks released hacked Democratic National Committee emails in June and July of 2016. Manafort was hired by Trump on March 29, 2016.
However, the story by the Guardian has since been softened, according to the website News Sniffer. For example, 90 minutes after publication, the Guardian modified its “Manafort held secret talks with Assange” headline to add “sources say.”
“Remember this day when the Guardian permitted a serial fabricator to totally destroy the paper’s reputation. @WikiLeaks is willing to bet the Guardian a million dollars and its editor’s head that Manafort never met Assange,” WikiLeaks’ official Twitter account said early Tuesday when the article was first published.
Manafort also issued a statement Tuesday afternoon, unequivocally denying the alleged meetings, calling the story “totally false and deliberately libelous.”
“I have never met Julian Assange or anyone connected to him. I have never been contacted by anyone connected to WikiLeaks, either directly or indirectly. I have never reached out to Assange or WikiLeaks on any matter,” Manafort said in a Tuesday afternoon statement through his spokesperson, Jason Maloni.
