Trump jnr's private
The President’s son was monitoring the group, a White House lawyer says
President Donald Trump’s eldest son exchanged private messages with WikiLeaks during the presidential campaign at the same time the website was publishing hacked emails from Democratic officials, according to correspondence now made public.
Donald Trump jnr did not respond to many of the notes, which were sent using the direct message feature on Twitter. But he alerted senior advisers on his father’s campaign, including his brother-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to two people familiar with the exchanges.
WikiLeaks urged Trump jnr to promote its trove of hacked Democratic emails and suggested that President Trump challenge the election results if he did not win, among other ideas. They were first reported by the Atlantic and later posted by Trump jnr on Twitter.
WikiLeaks, which bills itself as an anti-secrecy group, was described in April by CIA Director Mike Pompeo as a “non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia”. In July 2016, the organisation released thousands of emails that had been stolen from the Democratic National Committee by a cyberhack that US intelligence officials concluded was orchestrated by the Russian Government.
The newly revealed exchanges provide additional information about the role played by Trump jnr in 2016. He also has come under scrutiny for agreeing to meet a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower who he was told wanted to provide “dirt” about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on behalf of the Russian Government.
Alan Futerfas, Trump jnr’s lawyer, said his client’s exchanges with WikiLeaks were innocuous. “All sides in this campaign, the Clinton side, the Trump side, were monitoring WikiLeaks to see what they would publish next. If the Washington Post or the New York Times was looking to see what was being released, does that suggest any impropriety on their part? Of course not.”
At one point during his communication with WikiLeaks, Trump jnr sought to learn more about a rumoured leak of new documents related to Clinton, the messages indicate. “What’s behind this Wednesday leak I keep reading about?” Trump jnr asked during one exchange on October 3.
More than a week later, on October 12, the account replied with a suggestion: “Hey Donald, great to see you and your dad talking about our publications,” WikiLeaks wrote. “Strongly suggest your dad tweets this link if he mentions us.” The message included a link to search documents that had been hacked from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
Trump jnr did not answer. Fifteen minutes later, his father tweeted to his millions of followers: “Very little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks. So dishonest! Rigged system!” Two days later, Trump jnr tweeted the link to his followers, writing, “For those who have the time to read about all the corruption and hypocrisy all the @wikileaks emails are right here: http://wlsearch.tk/.”
Yesterday, White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment, referring questions about the exchanges to Trump jnr’s lawyer.
Futerfas noted that Trump jnr ignored several of WikiLeaks’ suggestions, including that he leak his father’s tax returns to the group. “Their attempts to get information were unsuccessful, and he did not bite,” he said.
Julian Assange tweeted yesterday that he could not confirm the messages because WikiLeaks does not retain its Twitter messages. But he