WikiLeaks' Julian Assange dashes hopes of #NeverHillary alt-right with boring 2-hour informercial
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been promising a damaging leak about Hillary Clinton for weeks now, and Donald Trump's most ardent supporters had high hopes for a WikiLeaks event live from Berlin early Tuesday morning. "HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks," Trump advocate Roger Stone Jr. tweeted in anticipation. The Trump-friendly Drudge Report warned in its main headline: "ASSANGE COMES FOR HER: WIKILEAKS DANGER." And the expected bombshell was a topic of discussion on Monday's Hannity.
The event itself, streamed over Facebook, was underwhelming. After more than an hour of talk about WikiLeaks' history, track record, and legal battles, Assange finally appeared via video chat from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He discussed changes to how WikiLeaks will solicit donations, plugged some new books, then mentioned that if he were going to release a bombshell about the U.S. election, "we don't do it at 3 a.m." in the U.S. When asked, he said WikiLeaks planned to publish about a million documents, including "significant material" on the U.S. election, before the end of the year, but said that material wasn't specifically aimed at Clinton, suggesting he'd been misquoted.
The lack of drama was felt keenly among Trump supporters, and specifically those on the alt-right.
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Some on Twitter suggested that Clinton had gotten to Assange, either through bribery or threats. The journalists who stayed up (or woke up) to watch the WikiLeaks birthday party laughed at themselves, too.
Maybe Assange does have an October Surprise in store, but if nothing else, maybe he sold a few books.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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