U.S. intelligence officials are claiming that the Trump administration debated assassinating Julian Assange. Meetings with then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo reportedly took place after WikiLeaks’ “Vault 7” data breach. The 2017 leak revealed many of the CIA’s hacking tools.
Officials allege that a deeply embarrassed Pompeo wanted revenge. While the CIA hasn’t responded to requests for comment, Donald Trump called the accusations “totally false.” Trump added that Assange has “been treated very badly.”
The Hill adds:
“There was an inappropriate level of attention to Assange given the embarrassment, not the threat he posed in context,” one official said. “We should never act out of a desire for revenge.”
U.S. intelligence officials were supposedly provoked by rumors that Assange was planning an escape attempt from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had taken asylum. Russian intelligence was supposedly present around the embassy to help facilitate an escape. Yahoo noted that WikiLeaks had helped to facilitate U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden’s escape to Russia from Hong Kong.
If Russian officials were able to get Assange onto a plane, one official told Yahoo that agents were prepared to block the plane with a car on the runway, shoot out the tires or even crash into a car carrying Assange.
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Following the leak of the Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential race, Trump proclaimed, “I love WikiLeaks,” and he reportedly offered Assange a pardon if he would say that Russia was not involved in the 2016 Democratic National Committee hack.
Assange’s U.S. lawyer condemned the alleged plot against his client as “without any judicial process.”
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