The Great Deception - Russia Just Hacks Us - The Truth - We Invented Hacking!

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One thing you have to love about the media, they will always be so preoccupied with their agenda they will have no time for historical analysis, research, and cross checking facts.  So we remain focused on how those dastardly Russians hacked us in the 2017 elections when we hacked them almost two decades ago.

Wikileaks has once again shown why they are the most loved and hated web site on Earth. Yesterday they dumped another batch of secret documents into the media charade and it showed how the Master developer and user of hacking programs of our world is none other than our very own CIA.

Fancy that, we set the standard for not simply hacking everyone, but for embedding our little packages in abut every computer in the world so it could report back to us.  Now the futuristic technology has been extended to iPhones and Smart TVs.

Did it ever occur to the media that Russian hacking might just be in retaliation for what we have already done to everyone else?  Was it not Wikileaks that spilled the beans on the USA monitoring the phones and emails of foreign leaders, friend and foe alike a few years back?

Here are two current articles about what Wikileaks leaked this time, and a third article on why our hands are not clean on hacking, we wrote the book and our own people were among the victims.

Technology

WikiLeaks publishes massive trove of CIA spying files in 'Vault 7' release

 Andrew Griffin,The Independent 

WikiLeaks has published a huge trove of what appear to be CIA spying secrets.

The files are the most comprehensive release of US spying files ever made public, according to Julian Assange. In all, there are 8,761 documents that account for "the entire hacking capacity of the CIA", Mr Assange claimed in a release, and the trove is just the first of a series of "Vault 7" leaks.

Already, the files include far more pages than the Snowden files that exposed the vast hacking power of the NSA and other agencies.

In publishing the documents, WikiLeaks had ensured that the CIA had "lost control of its arsenal", he claimed. That included a range of software and exploits that if real could allow unparalleled control of computers around the world.

It includes software that could allow people to take control of the most popular consumer electronics products used today, claimed WikiLeaks.

"'Year Zero' introduces the scope and direction of the CIA's global covert hacking program, its malware arsenal and dozens of "zero day" weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products, include Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones," the organisation said in a release.

The public files don't include the cyber weapons themselves, according to a statement. The organisation will refrain from distributing "armed" software "until a consensus emerges on the technical and political nature of the CIA's program and how such 'weapons' should analyzed, disarmed and published", it said.

The files were made available by a source who intended for them to start a conversation about whether the CIA had gained too much power, according to the organisation.

"In a statement to WikiLeaks the source details policy questions that they say urgently need to be debated in public, including whether the CIA's hacking capabilities exceed its mandated powers and the problem of public oversight of the agency," a release read. "The source wishes to initiate a public debate about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyberweapons."

It also redacts the details of some of the names, locations and targets that are identified in the documents.

The organisation had teased the release in advance with strange messages about the release being "Year Zero", and references to "Vault 7". It had planned to release the files later on but that plan was thrown off when its press conference came under cyber attack, Mr Assange claimed.

Technology

WikiLeaks claims the CIA built special tools for hacking iPhones and other Apple products

 Kif Leswing,Business Insider

(AP) 
Documents published on Tuesday by WikiLeaks claim to be evidence that the "CIA lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal." 

According to the WikiLeaks files, it appears that the CIA has teams specifically dedicated to breaking into Apple products, including iOS, the software that runs on iPhones and iPads, and even Apple's line of routers, AirPort. 

The WikiLeaks files suggest that the CIA may have access to undiscovered and unreported bugs, or exploits, in iOS, the iPhone operating system. 

"While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities," Apple said in a statement. 

Here's Apple's complete statement on the WikiLeaks files: 

"Apple is deeply committed to safeguarding our customers’ privacy and security.  The technology built into today’s iPhone represents the best data security available to consumers, and we’re constantly working to keep it that way. Our products and software are designed to quickly get security updates into the hands of our customers, with nearly 80 percent of users running the latest version of our operating system. While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities.  We always urge customers to download the latest iOS to make sure they have the most recent security updates.”

There is also evidence in the 7,818 web pages and attached files that the CIA has tools to gain unauthorized access to Android devices, smart TVs, and other computers. 

'Nothing interesting or new' about the published exploits

(A screenshot of purported exploits the CIA was aware of and documented.WikiLeaks)

 
Will Strafach, a security professional with extensive experience with iOS exploits and CEO of Sudo Security Group, cast doubt about the "leaked iOS stuff from CIA" on Twitter, saying that there appeared to be "nothing interesting or new."

"So far, there is zero cause for concern," Strafach told Business Insider. "They definitely have vulnerability research (looks very similar to my own company's internal wiki), but nothing which should be if any concern to a user on the latest iOS."

Apple regularly fixes the kind of bugs and potential exploits that the CIA purportedly developed and bought. For maximum security, you should update to the latest version of iOS on your iPhone or iPad in Settings > General > Software Update. 

In a statement accompanying the document release, Wikileaks claimed that there was a group inside the CIA specifically dedicated to hacking iPhones and iPads. Wikileaks wrote: 

Despite iPhone's minority share (14.5%) of the global smart phone market in 2016, a specialized unit in the CIA's Mobile Development Branch produces malware to infest, control and exfiltrate data from iPhones and other Apple products running iOS, such as iPads. CIA's arsenal includes numerous local and remote "zero days" developed by CIA or obtained from GCHQ, NSA, FBI or purchased from cyber arms contractors such as Baitshop. The disproportionate focus on iOS may be explained by the popularity of the iPhone among social, political, diplomatic and business elites.

The U.S. has a long history of hacking other democracies

By Mariya Y. Omelicheva, Ryan Beasley and Christian Crandall By Mariya Y. Omelicheva, Ryan Beasley and Christian Crandall

Monkey Cage

December 20, 2016

The former commander in chief of the Allied forces in Europe, Gen. Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower poses for a photographer at NATO Paris headquarters in 1951. (AFP/Getty Images)

Why do democratic governments so often engage in violent covert actions?

The United States is roiled by controversy over Russia’s broad covert operation to undermine the legitimacy of the 2016 presidential election and Western democracy in general. But the U.S. government has interfered in other democracies’ decisions with violent clandestine operations that go back generations.

[A new poll shows an astonishing 52% of Republicans think Trump won the popular vote]

During the George W. Bush administration, the American public learned about post-9/11 covert actions that many found disturbing, including secret memos authorizing torture of terrorist suspects; a highly secretive program of “extraordinary renditions,” which involved the government-sponsored capture and transfer of detainees from U.S. jurisdiction to other states without due legal process for purposes of detention and interrogation; and “black sites,” or secret prisons operated by the CIA.

But as our research has found, those operations were a continuation of U.S. policy, not a break with it.
Here’s how we did our research — and what we found
We examined unclassified Central Intelligence Agency documents and historical academic research on U.S. interventions to identify 27 U.S. clandestine operations carried out between 1949 and 2000.

Most U.S. “secret wars” were against other democratic states.

[How Hannah Arendt’s classic work on totalitarianism illuminates today’s America]

Unclassified documents published by the U.S. national security archive at George Washington University show that the British government helped the United States overthrow Mohammad Mosaddegh, a democratically elected prime minister of Iran, and tried to block the release of information about its involvement in the coup.

But that’s just one example. In 1954, an anti-Communist “army” trained and armed by the CIA deposed democratically elected president Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in Guatemala — leading to years of violent civil war and rightist rule. Fifty-seven years later, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, on behalf of the state, asked Guzman’s family for forgiveness.

And in 1981, President Ronald Reagan authorized the funding for the CIA-led “secret wars” against the democratically elected Sandinista government in Nicaragua. These are but a few examples of the U.S. covert operations abroad.

Kissinger: Trump has opportunity to make history in U.S. foreign relations

During an interview aired Dec. 18, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger said of foreign leaders' relationship to President-elect Donald Trump, "It is a shocking experience to them that he came into office, at the same time, an extraordinary opportunity." Kissinger says of foreign leaders of Trump, "It is a shocking experience to them that he came into office, at the same time, an extraordinary opportunity." (Reuters)

We also examined the nationality of detainees in the “war on terror” between 2001 and 2006, when the United States was casting the broadest net to find and detain prisoners. The individuals detained by the U.S. military on the orders of the U.S. administration were placed at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba or transferred to Abu Ghraib in Iraq. There is a public record of their detention.

In parallel to the U.S. military operations, the CIA seized several people in foreign territories suspected of hostile actions against the United States. Held incommunicado and without due process of law, these individuals were placed in the CIA’s secret prisons or sent to states known for forced disappearances and torture.

We compiled the list of individuals covertly detained by the CIA from reports by international human rights groups and independent news organizations providing investigative reporting on the CIA renditions program. Our analysis further confirmed that the United States was substantially more likely to use clandestine coercion against citizens of democratic states.

Why do democratic governments engage in frequent violent covert actions?

Policymakers worry whether their actions will be perceived as legitimate. Legitimacy comes in part from keeping policies consistent with citizens’ interests and expectations.

For instance, since wars and violence are inimical to citizens’ interest in self-preservation and freedom, policymakers are predisposed to value peace. Democratic governments will launch open violence only if they think they can persuade citizens that those actions are legitimate.

While working covertly to bring down democracies, the United States also worked to engineer public support for overt use of force, if necessary. For instance, in 1954, the Eisenhower administration spread fearmongering propaganda about the “communist leanings” of the Guatemalan president. The U.S. news media subsequently misrepresented the coup as a successful restoration of democracy in Guatemala, carried out by local freedom fighters.

The news media did not report what it did not know: that the CIA had masterminded and funded the revolt. Similarly, the British government used the BBC’s Persian service to spread anti-Mosaddegh attitudes before the 1954 Iranian coup.

When democratic governments can’t get their citizens to support coercive policies abroad, they — at times — can and do resort to covert force.

Mariya Y. Omelicheva is associate professor in the department of political science at the University of Kansas.

Christian Crandall is professor in the department of psychology at the University of Kansas.

Ryan Beasley is senior lecturer in the school of international relations at St. Andrews University.
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Wikileaks' 10th Anniversary Present to American Elections - One Million Secret Emails

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WikiLeaks' Assange signals release of documents before U.S. election

By Andrea Shalal,Reuters 

By Andrea Shalal

BERLIN (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Tuesday the organization would publish around one million documents related to the U.S. election and three governments, but denied the release was aimed at damaging Hillary Clinton.

He said the documents would be released before the end of the year, starting with an initial batch in the coming week.

He criticized Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, for demonizing the group's work after a spate of releases related to the Democratic National Committee before the Democratic convention this summer.

Assange said her campaign had falsely suggested that accessing WikiLeaks data would make users vulnerable to malicious software.

But he denied the release of documents related to the U.S. election was specifically geared to damage Clinton, saying he had been misquoted.

Assange also signaled changes in the way WikiLeaks is organized and funded, saying the group would soon open itself to membership. He said the group was looking to expand its work beyond the 100 media outlets it works with.

Assange, 45, spoke via a video link at an event marking the 10th anniversary of the group's founding. He remains in the Eucador Embassy in London where he sought refuge in 2012 to avoid possible extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he committed rape in 2010.

Assange denies the allegations and says he fears extradition to the United States, where a criminal investigation into the activities of WikiLeaks is underway.

He told a packed news conference at a Berlin theater the group's work would continue, even if he had to resign in the future, and he appealed to supporters to fund the group's work, and said several new books were forthcoming.

Assange said Britain's vote to leave the European Union could complicate his case by limiting his ability to appeal to the European Court of Justice.

Asked how he felt after four years in the embassy, he said "pale" and joked he would be a good candidate for medical study since he was otherwise healthy but had not seen the sun in over four years.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Madeline Chambers and Janet Lawrence)

World

WikiLeaks vows to release 'significant' material on US election

AFP  

Berlin (AFP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pledged Tuesday to publish "significant" new material on the US election before the November 8 vote, speaking on the 10th anniversary of the online leaking platform.

Assange said there were "enormous expectations in the United States" about the material and that "some of that expectation will be partly answered", with "a lot of fascinating angles" in the documents.

"Do they show interesting features of US power factions? Yes they do," he said, addressing an anniversary event in Berlin via videolink.

On why WikiLeaks was holding back for now, he added that "if we're going to make a major publication in relation to the United States at a particular hour, we don't do it at 3:00 am," referring to the time in the eastern United States.

He also said that "we hope to be publishing every week for the next 10 weeks," promising documents on the subjects of war, arms, oil, Google and mass surveillance.

Assange -- speaking from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has been holed up for over four years to avoid being extradited to Sweden to face rape allegations -- hailed WikiLeaks for releasing 10 million documents over the past decade, exposing state and corporate secrets.

He pledged that WikiLeaks would seek to expand its activities with extra staff and new media partnerships, with plans to hire 100 more journalists over the next three years.

"We're going to need... an army to defend us from the pressure that is already starting to arrive," said Assange, wearing a black T-shirt with the word "truth" on it.

On the eve of the US Democratic Party convention in July, WikiLeaks published some 20,000 internal emails pointing at an apparent bias of its leaders for Clinton during the primary campaign.

Assange charged that WikiLeaks was now the target of a witch hunt orchestrated in particular by Clinton, likening it to the repression of American communists in the 1950s driven by then senator Joseph McCarthy.

Assange said WikiLeaks would scale up to "amplify our publications and to defend us against what is really a quite remarkable McCarthyist push in the United States at the moment, principally by Hillary Clinton and her allies because she happens to be the person being exposed at the moment".

Asked whether he felt affinity with Clinton's Republican rival Donald Trump, he said: "I feel personal affinity with all human beings. Through understanding someone, you can feel sorry for them.

"I certainly feel sorry for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. These are two people who are tormented by their ambitions."

World

Julian Assange moves speech to Berlin due to 'specific information'

steven_musil,CNET

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has moved a much-anticipated press conference on Tuesday from London to Berlin, citing unspecified "specific information."

Assange, who has been living in asylum in Ecuador's embassy in London for four years, had been scheduled to deliver a speech from his balcony during which it was expected he would release information that could be damaging to US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Assange had said in August he planned to release "significant" information about the Democratic nominee before the November 8 election.

The change in venue, which WikiLeaks announced in a tweet Monday, came just hours after the document-leaking site tweeted a report that quoted Clinton as appearing to suggest use of a drone strike against Assange. According to True Pundit, Clinton asked during a 2010 State Department meeting about WikiLeaks and Assange, "Can't we just drone this guy?"

The quote, allegedly made while Clinton was serving as Secretary of State, was included in a massive trove of classified State Department documents that Wikileaks began releasing later that month.

Representatives for WikiLeaks and Clinton's campaign didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The WikiLeaks founder sought asylum from Ecuador in 2012 after Swedish investigators issued a European arrest warrant for Assange that required British police to detain and extradite him. He is trying to avoid extradition to Sweden out of fear he would then be extradited to the US to face questioning over classified material published on WikiLeaks. 

Democracy Now Interview with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks on DNC emails - the interview the media does not want you to read.

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EXCLUSIVE: WikiLeaks' Julian Assange on Releasing DNC Emails That Ousted Debbie Wasserman Schultz

July 25, 2016

Guests

Julian Assange

founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks.

This is viewer supported news

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WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange joins us from London about their release of nearly 20,000 emails revealing how the Democratic Party favored Hillary Clinton and worked behind the scenes to discredit and defeat Bernie Sanders. This comes as the Democratic National Convention is opening today in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, amid massive party turmoil. The DNC chair, Florida Congressmember Debbie Wasserman Schultz, has resigned following the leak. The emails also reveal a close relationship between mainstream media outlets and the DNC.

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The Democratic National Convention is opening today in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, amid massive party turmoil. Democratic National Committee chairwoman and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has resigned following the release of nearly 20,000 emails revealing how the Democratic Party favored Hillary Clinton and worked behind the scenes to discredit and defeat Bernie Sanders. The emails were released Friday by WikiLeaks.

In one email, DNC Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall suggested someone ask Sanders about his religion ahead of the Kentucky and West Virginia contests. Brad Marshall wrote, quote, "It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist," unquote. In another email, Debbie Wasserman Schultz calls Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver a, quote, "Damn liar."

AMY GOODMAN: A third email shows National Press Secretary Mark Paustenbach writing, quote, "Wondering if there’s a good Bernie narrative for a story, which is that Bernie never ever had his act together, that his campaign was a mess," unquote. Multiple emails show the DNC complaining about MSNBC coverage of the party and of Communications Director Luis Miranda once writing, quote, "F***ing Joe claiming the system is rigged, party against him, we need to complain to their producer," unquote, referring to Joe Scarborough. Other emails suggest the DNC was gathering information on Sanders’ events and that a super PAC was paying people to counter Sanders supporters online.

On Sunday, Bernie Sanders reacted to the emails during an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: I told you a long time ago that the—that the DNC was not running a fair operation, that they were supporting Secretary Clinton. So what I suggested to be true six months ago turns out, in fact, to be true. I’m not shocked, but I am disappointed. ... What I also said many months ago is that, for a variety of reasons, Debbie Wasserman Schultz should not be chair of the DNC. And I think these emails reiterate that reason why she should not be chair. I think she should resign, period. And I think we need a new chair who is going to lead us in a very different direction.

AMY GOODMAN: WikiLeaks has not revealed the source of the leaked emails, although in June a hacker using the name Guccifer 2.0 claimed responsibility for the hacking into the DNC’s computer network. On Sunday, however, Clinton’s campaign manager claimed the emails were leaked, quote, "by the Russians for the purpose of helping Donald Trump," unquote.

We go now to London for an exclusive interview with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy for more than four years. He was granted political asylum by Ecuador, but he fears if he attempts to go to Ecuador, if he attempts to step foot outside the Ecuadorean Embassy, that he will be arrested by British police and ultimately extradited to the United States to face, well, it’s believed, possibly treason charges for the documents WikiLeaks has released.

Julian Assange, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you talk about this email—these emails, these 20,000 emails you have released?

JULIAN ASSANGE: Yeah, it’s quite remarkable what has happened the last few days. I think this is a quite a classical release, showing the benefit of producing pristine data sets, presenting them before the public, where there’s equal access to all journalists and to interested members of the public to mine through them and have them in a citable form where they can then be used to prop up certain criticisms or political arguments. Often it’s the case that we have to do a lot of exploration and marketing of the material we publish ourselves to get a big political impact for it. But in this case, we knew, because of the pending DNC, because of the degree of interest in the U.S. election, we didn’t need to establish partnerships with The New York Times or The Washington Post. In fact, that might be counterproductive, because they are partisans of one group or another. Rather, we took the data set, analyzed it, verified it, made it in a presentable, searchable form, presented it for all journalists and the public to mine. And that’s exactly what has happened.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Julian, your reaction to the announced resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz shortly after the release of these emails?

JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, I mean, that’s interesting. We have seen that with a lot of other publications. I guess there’s a question: What does that mean for the U.S. Democratic Party? It is important for there to be examples of accountability. The resignation was an example of that. Now, of course, Hillary Clinton has tried to immediately produce a counter-example by putting out a statement, within hours, saying that Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a great friend, and she’s incorporating her into her campaign, she’s going to be pushing for her re-election to the Congress.

So that’s a very interesting signaling by Hillary Clinton that if you act in a corrupt way that benefits Hillary Clinton, you will be taken care of. Why does she need to put that out? Certainly, it’s not a signal that helps with the public at all. It’s not a signal that helps with unity at the DNC, at the convention. It’s a signal to Hillary Clinton partisans to keep on going on, you’ll be taken care of. But it’s a very destructive signal for a future presidency, because it’s—effectively, it’s expanding the Overton window of corruption. It doesn’t really matter what you do, how you behave; as long as that is going to benefit Hillary Clinton, you’ll be protected.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, it’s very interesting, because Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine appeared together, as Mike Pence and Donald Trump did the week before, on 60 Minutes. And Hillary Clinton distanced herself from all these emails and the DNC, saying, "These people didn’t work for me." And yet immediately upon the forced resignation of Deborah Wasserman Schultz, she said she’s a good friend, and immediately hired her. But, Julian, I was wondering if you can say, from your point of view, what do you think are the most significant emails that have been released, that you have released?

JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, actually, I think the most significant ones haven’t been reported on, although The Washington Post late last night and McClatchy did a first initial stab at it. And this is the spreadsheets that we released covering the financial affairs of the DNC. Those are very rich documents. There’s one spreadsheet called "Spreadsheet of All Things," and it includes all the major U.S.—all the major DNC donors, where the donations were brought in, who they are, identifiers, the total amounts they’ve donated, how much at a noted or particular event, whether that event was being pushed by the president or by someone else. That effectively maps out the influence structure in the United States for the Democratic Party, but more broadly, because the—with few exceptions, billionaires in the United States make sure they donate to both parties. That’s going to provide a scaffold for future investigative journalism about influence within the United States, in general.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Julian, on that issue, clearly, a lot of the emails talk about the actual amounts of money that were being offered to donors for the opportunity to—I mean, asked of donors for the opportunity to sit at different events next to President Obama, especially, the use of President Obama as a fundraiser. Now, most people in the political world will consider this business as usual, but the actual mechanics of how this operates and the degree to which the DNC coordinates with the president, his marketability, is—I don’t think has ever been revealed in this detail. Would you agree?

JULIAN ASSANGE: That’s right. And it’s not just that the president holds fundraisers. That’s nothing new. But rather, what you get for each donation of a particular sort. There’s even a phrase used in one of the emails of, quote, "pay to play." So, yeah, I think it’s extremely interesting. There’s emails back and forth also between the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC. So, you see quite elaborate structures of money being funneled to state Democratic Party officers and then teleported back, seemingly to get up certain stats, maybe to evade certain campaign funding restrictions.

In relation to what has become the most significant political discussion as a result of the publication, which is that the DNC higher-ups, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz, were clearly against Bernie Sanders and trying to subvert his campaign in a whole raft of ways, that’s true. That’s the—the atmosphere that is revealed by hundreds of emails is that it’s perfectly acceptable to produce trenchant internal criticisms of Bernie Sanders and discuss ways to undermine his campaign. So, whether that’s calling up the president of MSNBC—Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the president of MSNBC to haul Morning Joe into line, which it subsequently has done. I noticed this morning, Morning Joe actually discussed it themselves, trying to shore up their own presentation of, you know, a TV program that can’t be pushed around. But, in fact, they did not mention the call to the president. That was something that is still unspeakable. And it was a 180-degree flip in that coverage.

And you see other, you know, quite naked conspiracies against Bernie Sanders. While there’s been some discussion, for example, about—that there was a plan to use—to expose Bernie Sanders as an atheist, as opposed to being a religious Jew, and to use that against him in the South to undermine his support there. There was an instruction by the head of communications, Luis Miranda, to take an anti-Bernie Sanders story, that had appeared in the press, and spread that around without attribution, not leaving their fingerprints on it. And that was an instruction made to staff. So, it wasn’t just, you know, a plan that may or may not have been carried out. This was an instruction that was pushed to DNC staff to covertly get out into the media anti-Bernie Sanders stories. Another thing that—

AMY GOODMAN: On Sunday, Hillary—

JULIAN ASSANGE: Another aspect that is—

AMY GOODMAN: On Sunday, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, cited experts saying that the DNC emails were leaked by the Russians in an attempt to help Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Mook was speaking to CNN. This is what he said.

ROBBY MOOK: What’s disturbing to us is that we—experts are telling us that Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails, and other experts are now saying that they are—the Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of actually helping Donald Trump. I don’t think it’s coincidental that these emails were released on the eve our convention here. We also saw last week at the Republican convention that Trump and his allies made changes to the Republican platform to make it more pro-Russian. And we saw him talking about how NATO shouldn’t intervene to defend—necessarily should intervene to defend our Eastern European allies if they’re attacked by Russia. So, I think when you put all this together, it’s a disturbing picture.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that was Robby Mook citing experts saying the DNC emails were leaked by the Russians. You were the one who released these 20,000 emails, Julian Assange. Where did you get them?

JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, what’s not in that clip there by Robby is that, just afterwards, he was asked by Jake Tapper, "Who are these experts? Can you name them?" The answer was no, a refusal to name the experts. But we have seen one of the experts, so-called experts, that the Democratic Party is trying to base its incredible conspiracy theory on about WikiLeaks. And that is this—what we jokingly refer to as the NSA dick pic guy. He’s a former National Security Agency agent who started to produce conspiracy theories about us in 2013, when we were involved in the Edward Snowden rescue, as a means to try and undermine the Snowden publications, subsequently embroiled in some amateur pornography scandal. That’s why they don’t want to name their experts, because they are people like this.

In relation to sourcing, I can say some things. A, we never reveal our sources, obviously. That’s what we pride ourselves on. And we won’t in this case, either. But no one knows who our source is. It’s simply speculation. It’s, I think, interesting and acceptable to speculate who our sources are. But if we’re talking about the DNC, there’s lots of consultants that have access, lots of programmers. And the DNC has been hacked dozens and dozens of times. Even according to its own reports, it had been hacked extensively over the last few years. And the dates of the emails that we published are significantly after all, or all but one—it’s not clear—of the hacking allegations that the DNC says have occurred.

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