President Donald Trump said this week, “I know nothing about Wikileaks” after the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Assange could face extradition to the United States.
On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump seemed to be very familiar with the media outlet that has released sensitive U.S government documents. In wake of WikiLeaks dumping 20,000 emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta and posting email communications between the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, Trump declared “WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks” and “this WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove,” at separate campaign rallies.
But this week, Trump was singing a different tune. “I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing and I know there is something having to do with Julian Assange. I’ve been seeing what’s happened with Assange,” said Trump when asked about WikiLeaks at the White House on Thursday. “I’ve been seeing what’s happened with Assange, and that will be a determination. I would imagine mostly by the attorney general, who is doing an excellent job. So he’ll be making a determination. I know nothing really about him. That’s not my deal in life.”
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