WikiLeaks on Thursday rejected a report in the New York Times that sought to impugn the organization’s founder, Julian Assange, by linking him to the Kremlin and making a host of claims WikiLeaks said were inaccurate, and accused the publication of perpetuating a “conspiracy theory.”
The feud is a continuation of a Wednesday interview between Assange and a reporter for the Times, Jo Becker, in which Becker repeatedly accused Assange of working at Russia’s behest. Assange fired back by insisting that Becker’s publication was working to elect Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
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Assange was responding to a story in the Times titled, “How Russia Often Benefits When Julian Assange Reveals the West’s Secrets,” and his reply made its criticism even more incisive. “The New York Times Editorial Board has endorsed Hillary Clinton, however this is not disclosed in the article. The lead author, Jo Becker, last retweeted Hillary Clinton (a smiling and dancing animated Hillary Clinton), on March 3.”
Response to New York Times article on WikiLeaks
Read: https://t.co/OFKVMnmW5K
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 1, 2016
“The only hard news in the article is that ‘American officials say Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks probably have no direct ties to Russian intelligence services,'” the statement added.
The statement picked the Times’ story apart, particularly for what WikiLeaks said were factual inaccuracies. Those included claims that Russia once issued Assange a visa, and a claim about the legal status of a United Nations decision on Assange’s legal status.
WikiLeaks also rejected assertions that the organization has been too easy on the Russian government and its allies, including Syrian President Bashar Assad. “It is absurdly false that WikiLeaks has not produced critical material on the Assad government,” the group said. “WikiLeaks has published 2.3 million documents from the Assad government, a Russian ally, including the head of state, Bashar al Assad’s personal emails.”
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“WikiLeaks has also published on the Syrian government spying on Syrian activists using ‘Bluecoat’ and documented many other imports used by the Syrian security state in violation of the sanctions regime,” statement authors added, referring to a brand of surveillance technology.
“The conspiracy theory the article attempts to impute about the timing of WikiLeaks publications is false and is not journalism,” the organization said in its most trenchant criticism, responding to claims that its leaks were intended to help any particular political entity.
The Times did not reply to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
