Leaks & Leakers: We Love ‘em or hate ‘em — Just Take the Good with the Bad and Ugly

 

Three of a Kind More or Less

(Skip facts and Natl Intelligence)

Leaks and those who leak can be both good or bad and information for the general public, or not. 

Examples: The Pentagon Papers (Daniel Ellsberg in 1971) or WikiLeaks (Julian Assange today). These were Trump favorites.

But, first this reminder of Trump’s “I have no knowledge of WikiLeaks” (here in his own words not mine):

Montage of his sustained BS

1. During the 2016 presidential campaign season, emails from the Democratic National Committee and the personal email account of the Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta were obtained by Russian hackers and subsequently disseminated by WikiLeaks.

2. The leaked emails have become a central aspect of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference and allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. 

3. Roger Stone, longtime GOP strategist and former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump, in January was indicted and arrested in relation to his communications and statements on his involvement in the WikiLeaks email dump. Stone was charged with one count of obstruction, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering, according to a DOJ filing from January. 

After Assange was arrested and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, Trump in the Oval Office said to reporters: “I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It's not my thing.”

But Trump repeatedly mentioned WikiLeaks in public, often expressing affinity for the organization and its activities – here are a few times Trump mentioned WikiLeaks during his campaign (and seen above). 

·  October 10, 2016 in Wilkes-Barre, PA: “This just came out.” (Re: the DNC/Clinton email leaks). “WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks.” 

·  October 12, 2016 in Ocala, FL: “This WikiLeaks stuff is unbelievable. It tells you the inner heart, you gotta read it.”

·  October 13, 2016 in Cincinnati, OH: “It's been amazing what's coming out on WikiLeaks.”

·  October 31, 2016 in Warren, MI: “Another one came in today. This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove.”

·  November 4, 2016 in Wilmington, OH: “Getting off the plane, they were just announcing new WikiLeaks, and I wanted to stay there, but I didn't want to keep you waiting. Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks.”

My 2 Cents: My other post related to leaks is here – FYI.

Trump is incorrigible – beyond hope and repair. A wasted human being.

Odd though with Trump, he either loves leakers (e.g., WikiLeaks), or he hates them and wants them tried for treason and executed, or a possible pardon for Edward Snowden – nothing else, I guess?

I’ll end it on that note. Draw your own conclusions and analysis.

Thanks for stopping by.