Updated: Assange Clarifies Statement Regarding Hacking into Trump's Tax Returns
NOTE: WikiLeaks has walked back Assange's comments regarding Trump's tax returns, tweeting that it was just a "joke on a comedy show."
“Real Time” host Bill Maher on Friday night interviewed Wikileaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange, who defended his website’s decision to release thousands of DNC emails — leading to the resignation of Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Asked if it was “fair game” to release donor info from a private entity, Assange said, “It was definitely good fun.”
“I am super happy with how that’s gone,” he continued. “That shows a kind of instant accountability — perhaps not proper political accountability — for a really quite concerted effort, through the chain of command at the DNC, to make sure that Bernie Sanders didn’t win, including by pumping out black PR.”
Maher appeared ultimately concerned with bi-partisan hacking, wanting to know, “Why haven’t we seen anything hacked from the Trump campaign?”
“Obviously we know these came from Russia,” Maher added. “And we also know that you do not like Hillary Clinton at all, as does not Vladimir Putin. So it looks like you are working with a bad actor, Russia, to put your thumb on the scale and basically fuck with the one person who stands in the way of us being ruled by Donald Trump.”
“Why don’t you hack Donald Trump’s tax returns?” Maher asked.
“We’re working on it,” Assange assured.
Watch below:
