WikiLeaks and Paul Manafort are disputing a bombshell report that the former Trump campaign chairman met several times with Julian Assange, including once in March…
WikiLeaks and Paul Manafort are disputing a bombshell report that the former Trump campaign chairman met several times with Julian Assange, including once in March 2016.
“This story is totally false and deliberately libelous,” Manafort said in a statement Tuesday issued through his spokesman in response to the report, published by The Guardian.
Manafort and Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, met in secret in 2013,2015 and 2016, just before Manafort joined the Trump campaign, according to the report.
“I have never met Julian Assange or anyone connected to him. I have never been contacted by anyone connected to Wikileaks, either directly or indirectly. I have never reached out to Assange or Wikileaks on any matter,” he said. “We are considering all legal options against the Guardian who proceeded with this story even after being notified by my representatives that it was false.”
If true, The Guardian’s story would have major repercussions for the special counsel’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. Special counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating whether anyone on President Donald Trump’s team had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to release emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee or Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
But like Manafort, WikiLeaks is vehemently denying the report, which the group calls “100% fake.
