Two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is feeling pretty good this week following the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
If nothing else, his apprehension by British police at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on a U.S. extradition warrant is a small consolation prize for her losing a completely winnable election in 2016 to President Trump.
At an event this week at the Beacon Theater in New York, the moderator announced that Assange had been arrested, prompting thundering, rapturous applause from the audience. The moderator then asked Clinton if she had any comment, adding she has “some familiarity with the work of Mr. Assange.”
“I do, I do,” Clinton laughed.
During the 2016 election, WikiLeaks hacked into email accounts belonging to Democratic National Committee staffers and Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, releasing thousands of embarrassing and unflattering electronic communications. The WikiLeaks document dumps created a steady stream of negative press for Clinton, who maintains to this day that it is part of the reason she lost the election. Of course, if bad press is what determines who gets the White House, then how does one explain Trump winning despite the mountain of bad press he attracted?
“I think it is clear from the indictment that came out it’s not about punishing journalism, it is about assisting the hacking of a military computer to steal information from the United States government, and look, I’ll wait and see what happens with the charges and how it proceeds, but he skipped bail in the U.K.,” Clinton told the Beacon Theater audience.
She added, “The bottom line is he has to answer for what he has done, at least as it’s been charged.”
Not content to leave well enough alone, Clinton continued, adding a “collusion”-style dig at the Trump administration, “I do think it’s a little ironic that he may be the only foreigner that this administration would welcome to the United States.”
Assange has been indicted on one charge of conspiring with a former Army intelligence analyst to steal U.S. military secrets, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
It is possible Clinton is genuinely pleased to see that a man who leaked classified U.S. intelligence has finally been apprehended. It is possible she is genuinely pleased to see that a man who has worked so often against the interests of U.S. military personnel, sometimes directly endangering their lives, is now in custody.
But it is difficult to watch her response and not sense that she is maybe just a little too giddy. Considering the former secretary of state’s infamously vindictive streak, a part of me suspects her response to the Assange question is more about her own bitter self-interest than a selfless love of country.
