Report: Donald Trump Jr. Corresponded With WikiLeaks

The latest big scandal? This piece from The Atlantic. Apparently, Donald Trump Jr. corresponded with WikiLeaks during the 2016 election.

SCOOP: Turns out Donald Trump, Jr. corresponded with Wikileaks during the 2016 presidential campaign. My latest. https://t.co/pVGEBqmB9O

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) November 13, 2017

Here’s the scoop.

Just before the stroke of midnight on September 20, 2016, at the height of last year’s presidential election, the WikiLeaks Twitter account sent a private direct message to Donald Trump Jr., the Republican nominee’s oldest son and campaign surrogate. “A PAC run anti-Trump site putintrump.org is about to launch,” WikiLeaks wrote. “The PAC is a recycled pro-Iraq war PAC. We have guessed the password. It is ‘putintrump.’ See ‘About’ for who is behind it. Any comments?” (The site, which has since become a joint project with Mother Jones, was founded by Rob Glaser, a tech entrepreneur, and was funded by Progress for USA Political Action Committee.)

The next morning, about 12 hours later, Trump Jr. responded to WikiLeaks. “Off the record I don’t know who that is, but I’ll ask around,” he wrote on September 21, 2016. “Thanks.”

The messages, obtained by The Atlantic, were also turned over by Trump Jr.’s lawyers to congressional investigators. They are part of a long—and largely one-sided—correspondence between WikiLeaks and the president’s son that continued until at least July 2017. The messages show WikiLeaks, a radical transparency organization that the American intelligence community believes was chosen by the Russian government to disseminate the information it had hacked, actively soliciting Trump Jr.’s cooperation. WikiLeaks made a series of increasingly bold requests, including asking for Trump’s tax returns, urging the Trump campaign on Election Day to reject the results of the election as rigged, and requesting that the president-elect tell Australia to appoint Julian Assange ambassador to the United States.

Even The Atlantic admits that Don Jr. basically blew off WikiLeaks.

Though Trump Jr. mostly ignored the frequent messages from WikiLeaks, he at times appears to have acted on its requests. When WikiLeaks first reached out to Trump Jr. about putintrump.org, for instance, Trump Jr. followed up on his promise to “ask around.” According to a source familiar with the congressional investigations into Russian interference with the 2016 campaign, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, on the same day that Trump Jr. received the first message from WikiLeaks, he emailed other senior officials with the Trump campaign, including Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Brad Parscale, and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, telling them WikiLeaks had made contact. Kushner then forwarded the email to campaign communications staffer Hope Hicks. At no point during the 10-month correspondence does Trump Jr. rebuff WikiLeaks, which had published stolen documents and was already observed to be releasing information that benefited Russian interests.

It’s not as bad as it sounds.

The content of this story (worth reading) isn't as damning as I thought it might be. Don Jr. mostly ignored the 'largely-one sided' twitter DM's & turned them all over to investigators. https://t.co/L1Q3O9P3UP

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) November 13, 2017

Wikileaks comes off as relentlessly thirsty and needy. Don Jr. comes off as barely interested & rarely responsive.

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) November 13, 2017

SPOILER: Wikileaks DM'd @DonaldJTrumpJr and he blew it off. https://t.co/RXcuyAyzZj

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) November 13, 2017

The “SCOOP” is one Twitter DM exchange in which @DonaldJTrumpJr blew them off when they asked him a general question. https://t.co/7lq4ssJ4IB

— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) November 13, 2017

BREAKING: Don Jr and Wikileaks deleted 33,000 emails about their secret uranium sale to Putin! O wait

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 13, 2017

The media is more outraged about Don Jr sending out a link than Hillary and Obama sending out nuclear material to Russia

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 13, 2017

Sorry to break up your party, Liberals, but Don Jr DMing with Assange / Wikileaks is not a crime. 😂 It's called….wait for it….Twitter!!!

— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) November 13, 2017

Dems new bombshell "evidence" of election collusion.

Don Jr. didn't respond to most of Wikileaks' DMs.

Don Jr. didn't even know about Wikileaks' planned release of Podesta emails.

Some collusion.

— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 13, 2017

But some say this is solid proof of collusion.

This blows the lid off everything. Donald Trump, Jr. was in touch with Wikileaks, who trafficked the DNC emails stolen by Russia. https://t.co/tKFXsVhYqp

— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) November 13, 2017

Treason https://t.co/PekK7xjTmm

— Cory (@CoryCleveland25) November 13, 2017

Today's Wikileaks Bombshell is yet another obvious instance of collusion…

Don Jr. was in direct communication multiple times during the campaign with Wikileaks. Don Jr. reported this information directly to President Trump's first hand woman, Hope Hicks.

SAD!!

— Brian Krassenstein🐬 (@krassenstein) November 13, 2017

Let's see:
– Wikileaks was COLLUDING with the Russian Government to do intel gathering and FAKE NEWS dissemination on @HillaryClinton.
– Don Jr. was COLLUDING with Julian Assange / Wikileaks to disseminate info provided by them.
– That Confirms that TRUMP COLLUDED WITH RUSSIA!

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) November 13, 2017

Um…what about Hillary was #FakeNews? I really want to know. What were the lies? She made herself look bad.

Wikileaks emails proved Hillary colluded with CNN, NBC, MSNBC, Washington Post, New York Times, Politico and basically the entire MSM. But Don Jr can't respond to a DM from Wikileaks, a journalistic organization?

— Makada 🇺🇸 (@_Makada_) November 13, 2017

So wikileaks CONTACTED Don Jr via DM/Email and he responded.

Hillary used a hammer and bleach to delete all evidence of her emails.

& libs/media make a big deal about Don and nothing said about Hillary? Sickening people with no morals. This world insanely mentally ill in 2017.

— A 🇺🇸🇵🇱 (@snickerbuttA) November 13, 2017

Turns out not"secret." @DonaldTrumpJr turned it over to investigators months ago. Just leaked now by investigators to leftist writer.
TrumpJr blew off @wikileaks requests that seemed foolish or improper.
No responses during last month of campaign.
Pretty weak "collusion." https://t.co/Tw3XxbxtF5

— R.E.M.1600 (@eREM1600) November 13, 2017

This is never going to end.