Update 4
Posted by Courage Foundation
5 hours ago
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It has now been over two months since the Guardian published its Manafort-Assange fabrication. The paper continues to refuse to answer questions about its supposed "sources" and to provide any evidence for its baseless assertions. Since our last update this outrageous fabrication has had ever more serious consequences. WikiLeaks and Julian Assange still need your support in order to proceed to take legal action against The Guardian.
The Guardian's Manafort fabrication now features in many "top fake Russiagate stories" lists:
- The Washington Post points out, in an article called "Beware of the permanent exclusive": "A representative for the Guardian declined to comment beyond the outlet’s previous statement [...] We didn’t get a denial, of course, can never substitute for an affirmation of anything. [...] Time is a friend to none of these stories. The longer they remain on their evidentiary islands, the more marginalized they become."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/17/beware-permanent-exclusive/
- The American comedian Jimmy Dore and The Nation's Aaron Maté discussed the Guardian Manafort fabrication, among other Russiagate "fails", in Dore's program Aggressive Progressive on The Young Turks:
https://youtu.be/0BypY9ELgVk?t=33
- The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald ranks the "Paul Manafort Visited Julian Assange Three Times in the Ecuadorian Embassy and Nobody Noticed (Guardian/Luke Harding)" story #4 in his countdown article: "Beyond BuzzFeed: The 10 Worst, Most Embarrassing U.S. Media Failures on the Trump-Russia Story"
https://theintercept.com/2019/01/20/beyond-buzzfeed-the-10-worst-most-embarrassing-u-s-media-failures-on-the-trumprussia-story/7
- WikiLeaks also published its own 'Top ten false or fabricated stories appearing in the press about WikiLeaks'. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1087424714094583809.html
The Guardian's fabricated article anticipated serious consequences for Julian Assange, noting: "the last apparent meeting is likely to come under scrutiny and could interest Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who is investigating alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia".
Sure enough, on 11 December US members of Congress led by Diane Feinstein published a letter to Mike Pompeo on the basis of the Guardian's Manafort fabrication, urging Pompeo to pressure Ecuador into handing over "the complete, unedited log of Julian Assange's visitors at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London [...] to all ongoing US investigations" and "ask [Ecuador's] Foreign Minister Valencia to provide you with any security camera footage or other electronic media that was maintained by the government of Ecuador to supplement the visitor logs.”
The letter didn't stop there and shows how the Manafort story is being instrumentalised to pressure Ecuador to end Julian Assange's asylum: Pompeo is asked to seek out "the status of the Ecuadorian Government's discussions with the British Government regarding Julian Assange", noting that "it is imperative that [Julian Assange's presence in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London] be resolved swiftly. We trust that you will remain in close contact with Foreign Minister Valencia on this matter."
https://twitter.com/SenFeinstein/status/1072977963421978625/photo/1
US interrogations took place in Quito and London on the 18th and 20th of January 2019. EFE, Reuters and AFP reported on the U.S. interrogation of Ecuadorian London-based diplomats:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-manafort-idUSKCN1PD02B
https://www.france24.com/en/20190118-us-officials-ask-ecuador-embassy-staff-about-assange-visitors
Curiously, The Guardian did not report on the US interrogations of Ecuador's embassy staff, despite being directly causative of the events, a fact that WikiLeaks called Guardian editor Kath Viner out on, on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1087466505669959681
Three days after reports by Reuters, AFP and EFE on the meetings, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry officially confirmed that it was cooperating with the United States efforts to put Assange in prison.
Assange’s legal team responded with a statement posted to Twitter:
“Ecuador’s new regime has done a 180 turn in relation to protecting Mr Assange and is now assisting the U.S. Government to prosecute him in flagrant violation of its binding legal obligations under refugee law to not do so. The pretext? An indisputably fabricated story planted in the Guardian newspaper citing anonymous Ecuadorian intelligence agents that no other media organization has backed.”
https://twitter.com/DefendAssange/status/1086349581670117376
The Guardian has not reported further on its Manafort story since it originally published it on its front page. The reason is clear: it cannot back it up and knows it is false.
WikiLeaks and Julian Assange need your help to fight back against this deliberate, malicious libel. Please donate again, share these updates with your social media following, stay informed and encourage others to make noise and donate to the fund to press the Guardian to retract its false story.
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Leaked WikiLeaks Email: Non-Murderer Julian Assange
Doesn't Stink Or Live Under The Stairs
This weekend, WikiLeaks reportedly sent journalists a “confidential” list of 140 “false and defamatory” things not to write about the organisation. Now that a version of that list has leaked, WikiLeaks seems to have revised it—apparently omitting portions where it told news outlets Julian Assange isn’t a stinky cat abuser who lives under stairs.
On Monday, Reuters reported that WikiLeaks sent a 5,000-word email to media outlets identifying 140 statements about WikiLeaks and founder Assange that were “false and defamatory.” Among other items, Reuters said the email included “more personal claims” such as that Assange does not bleach his hair, that he has never neglected an animal, and that he does not have poor hygiene.
On Monday morning, national security reporter Emma Best published what she says is the full email sent out by WikiLeaks, marked “CONFIDENTIAL LEGAL COMMUNICATION” and “NOT FOR PUBLICATION.” About ten minutes later, WikiLeaks tweeted out what it called the “FULL DOC,” acknowledging it had been leaked. But as Best pointed out on Twitter, WikiLeaks shared a version (labelled “1.3”) that was much different than the document Best published (labelled “1.2”).
WikiLeaks responded by posting a different version of the email!
Not only are many items worded differently in the list tweeted by WikiLeaks and the one released by Best, the new version has fewer than 100 items, as opposed to the 140 reported by Reuters and published by Best. Notably, the “personal claims” mentioned in the Reuters article are not in the document publicly released by WikiLeaks, though both versions state Assange is not a murderer.
Here are some items that are missing from version 1.3 that can be found in the email published by Best:
It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange, or his mother, or his father, is, or was ever, a member of a cult.It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange bleaches his hair.It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange’s mother is, or ever was, a “hippie”.It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange is a communist.It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange stinks.It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange has ever tortured a cat or dog.It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange does not use cutlery or does not wash his hands.It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange lives, or has ever lived, in a basement, cupboard or under the stairs.It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange has ever played soccer or used a skateboard during week days or office hours at the embassy.It is false and defamatory to suggest that WikiLeaks or Julian Assange is tied to, or is close to, the Kremlin.It is false and defamatory to suggest that WikiLeaks or Julian Assange shared documents with a dictator.It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange or WikiLeaks ever employed, or contracted, a holocaust denier.It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange has ever insisted on Russian bodyguards
Best also ran both versions through a difference checker, further highlighting the discrepancies between the email she published and the document WikiLeaks released on Monday
WikiLeaks did not respond to a Gizmodo request for comment on the accuracy of the email Best published. We will update this story if and when they reply.
related:
An Extended Interview with John Pilger - KPFA + "GETTING JULIAN ASSANGE: The Untold Story" - John Pilger + more John Pilger articles
