WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Thursday that a Hillary Clinton victory would promote an environment of “neo-McCarthyism” and validate efforts to crack down on free speech, both in the press and online.

“The Democrats are always speaking about how terrible McCarthyism was, and it was in many ways,” Assange said in a radio interview with Sean Hannity. “But at least the USSR actually existed then, and there actually was Russian influence on campaigns in the United States, which was serious.”