He loves Wikileaks. He told us so many times.
by digby
WikiLeaks sent Donald Trump Jr. a series of Twitter direct messages between September of last year and this past summer, with the president's son responding to a few of the messages sent ahead of November's election, the Atlantic's Julia Ioffe reports. The messages were turned over by Trump Jr.'s lawyers to congressional investigators.
Why it matters: It was WikiLeaks that published emails stolen by Russian actors from Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee. In the messages to Trump Jr., WikiLeaks seems to be offering to help the Trump campaign, while seeking help in countering the perception it was aligned with Russia.
First contact, Sep. 20
Wikileaks sent Trump Jr. a direct message that an anti-Trump PAC was about to be formed and asking for comment.
Trump Jr.'s response the following morning, "Off the record I don't know who that is, but I'll ask around."
Another exchange, Oct. 3
WikiLeaks: "Hiya, it'd be great if you guys could comment on/push this story." The message included a link to Hillary Clinton's comment that she'd like to "drone" Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder.
Trump Jr: "Already did that earlier today. It's amazing what she can get away with."
Trump Jr., minutes later: "What's behind this Wednesday leak I keep reading about?" The message came after Roger Stone had tweeted that a damaging leak was coming.
WikiLeaks reaches out again, Oct. 12
WikiLeaks: "Hey Donald, great to see you and your dad talking about our publications. Strongly suggest your dad tweets this link if he mentions us (a link was included). There's many great stories the press are missing and we're sure some of your follows will find it. Btw we just released Podesta Emails Part 4."
Trump Jr.'s response: He did not message back, but tweeted out the link two days later.
Later messages
WikiLeaks suggested Trump Jr. leak them a year of his dad's tax returns, in part to get ahead of any controversy and also to nullify perceptions that WikiLeaks was a "'pro-Trump' 'pro-Russia' source."
WikiLeaks contacted Trump Jr. on election day saying they hoped Trump Sr. would not concede if he lost.
WikiLeaks asked Trump Jr. to tweet support for Assange becoming Australia's ambassador to the U.S.
After news of the Trump Jr./Russia meeting at Trump Tower emerged, WikiLeaks said they were "sorry to hear about your problems," and requested the emails that led up to the meeting, contending publication on WikiLeaks would be better than in the Times. Trump Jr. ultimately published the emails himself hours laters.This doesn't mean that other people in the Trump campaign weren't also communicating with Wikileaks, of course. But it sure sounds like this particular line of communication was pretty active. Trump sure did love Wikileaks. He said so over and over again:
“Strongly suggest your dad tweets this link if he mentions us,” WikiLeaks went on, pointing Trump Jr. to the link wlsearch.tk, which it said would help Trump’s followers dig through the trove of stolen documents and find stories. “There’s many great stories the press are missing and we’re sure some of your follows [sic] will find it,” WikiLeaks went on. “Btw we just released Podesta Emails Part 4.”
Trump Jr. did not respond to this message. But just 15 minutes after it was sent, as The Wall Street Journal’s Byron Tau pointed out, Donald Trump himself tweeted, “Very little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks. So dishonest! Rigged system!”
