Julian Assange had one crazy week. Well, 9 days to be exact. From Seth Rich to briefly disappearing off Twitter, The Gateway Pundit recounts all the bizarre things that happened to the WikiLeaks founder between December 17th and Christmas Day.
On December 17th, Assange detailed an “amazing plot by U.S. intelligence against the foundation which provides @WikiLeaks donors with tax deductibility in the EU.”
RT reports:
Julian Assange has exposed an apparent attempt by the US intelligence apparatus to undermine funding to WikiLeaks, using institutions he established for the express purpose of protecting potential donors from the authorities.
In a Twitter thread, posted Sunday, Assange alleges “politically induced financial censorship” that violates not only US donors’ First Amendment rights but also their right to freedom of association. “US donors are the majority of our donor base,” Assange wrote, as he nears the conclusion of what will be his eighth year of exile in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
In a series of tweets Assange said: ““We have discovered an amazing plot by U.S. intelligence against the foundation which provides @WikiLeaks donors with tax deductibility in the EU (Wau Holland Stiftung). It comes after our series on the CIA, #Vault7. In press next week,” tweeted Assange on Sunday.”
“Strangely, at the same time in the US, the “Freedom of the Press” foundation (FPF) has told us it will shut down our US tax deductible gateway in January. US tax deductible contributions can be made for the rest of the month: https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate.”
“The FPF shutdown is richly ironic as the FPF was founded precisely in order to stop economic censorship against WikiLeaks. Here is my letter to the FPF (lots of previously secret history, check it out!): https://pastebin.com/raw/qnB5gMam (And FPF’s response: https://pastebin.com/raw/MD0LhhiF ).”
“Like our response to the first banking blockade @WikiLeaks will open up additional crypto-currencies. Those wanting to contribute to @WikiLeaks can already use #Bitcoin, #Litecon and the ultra-private #Monero, & #Zcash: https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate,” added Assange.
“You can also purchase @WikiLeaks merchandise at http://WikiLeaks.shop using a variety of methods including an extensive list of crypto-currencies,” concluded Assange.
Two days later, the office of WikiLeaks’ general counsel, Baltasar Garzón, was burglarized in what Madrid police say was a “very professional,” operation.
“As CIA threats against @WikiLeaks heat up, at least three masked men dressed in black have broken into @WikiLeaks chief counsel Baltasar Garzón’s legal office, blinding security cameras with tape, in a “very professional” operation say police,” tweeted WikiLeaks last Tuesday.
As CIA threats against @WikiLeaks heat up, at least three masked men dressed in black have broken into @WikiLeaks chief counsel Baltasar Garzón's legal office, blinding security cameras with tape, in a "very professional" operation say police. https://t.co/ao3nD3bk2c
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 19, 2017
El Pais reported:
As if it were impossible mission, at least three people dressed in black broke into the Madrid offices of the former judge for National Court Baltasar Garzón. The alleged thieves were “very professional,” according to police sources. The suspects blinded the security cameras with tape. No money was stole, say police sources. But it does seem that they went through documents. It has not yet been determined what is missing.
The investigation is being carried out by the police as if it were “an attempted robbery.” They are waiting for technicians to check if copies of files have been stolen from the computers.
On December 19th, Assange sent the Twittersphere into a tizzy after tweeting a video in which deceased DNC staffer Seth Rich is suggested as WikiLeaks’ source for its document dump that shook the 2016 presidential election. Assange called the video “brilliant.”
https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/943060307869650949
Fast forward to Christmas Eve when Assange’s Twitter account mysteriously disappeared — and then appeared hours later.
Law & Crime reports:
An odd sequence of events happened this morning, and it all surrounds the twitter account of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. First, overnight, his official Twitter account disappeared on all social media platforms. It was reactivated this morning. It is unclear if this is something that Twitter did, or if Assange deleted his account himself. Assange’s twitter account reappeared and then tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/945303512430333952
On Christmas day, the U.S. Navy apologized for tweeting about Julian Assange after the WikiLeaks founder’s account disappeared from Twitter.
“This morning, an inadvertent keystroke by an authorized user of the U.S. Navy Office of Information’s Digitial Media Engagement Team caused the trending term “Julian Assange” to be tweeted from the Navy’s official Twitter account. The inadvertent tweet was briefly posted for a few second before it was quickly deleted by the same authorized user. The inadvertent tweet was sent during routine monitoring of trending topics,” tweeted the U.S. Navy on Christmas day.
https://twitter.com/joshdcaplan/status/945332772066996224
“Despite some oddities from the US Navy and Twitter today and increased physical surveillance @JulianAssange‘s physical situation at the embassy remains unaltered–confined without charge in violation of two UN rulings requiring the UK to set him free,” tweeted WikiLeaks.
Despite some oddities from the US Navy and Twitter today and increased physical surveillance @JulianAssange's physical situation at the embassy remains unaltered–confined without charge in violation of two UN rulings requiring the UK to set him free.https://t.co/ne7cQ2Uryw
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 25, 2017
Below is a screenshot of the tweet.
Here a screenshot of the deleted @USNavy Christmas tweet about @JulianAssange. Note the use of quotation marks.https://t.co/Asfw6cH6C7 pic.twitter.com/7Gg6mVOoCx
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 25, 2017
There’s no telling what will come next for Assange, but one thing is for certain — the man deserves a stiff drink.