Hillary Clinton took aim at WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, referring to the leak site as “unfortunately now practically a fully-owned subsidiary of Russian intelligence."
Assange, she said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s Four Corners, is “a tool of Russian intelligence,” musing, according to ABC News Australia, that if he were indeed a free speech advocate as he has claimed, then “why doesn't WikiLeaks ever publish anything coming out of Russia?”
Throughout her 2016 presidential run the former Secretary of State was dogged by a steady stream of releases by WikiLeaks revealing the contents of emails associated with members of her campaign and other Democratic Party affiliates.
Clinton said Assange's efforts helped weaponize information that was then used against her and her campaign. Striking back against Clinton's claims, the WikiLeaks founder said the former First Lady “seethes thwarted entitlement” along with 'something much darker.'”
The former Democratic presidential candidate is not the first to question Assange's motives and his potential ties to Russia.
Earlier this year CIA Director Mike Pompeo called WikiLeaks, a "hostile intelligence agency" with ties to Russia.
"WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service. It's time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: A non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia,” Pompeo said, accusing both Assange and whistleblower Edward Snowden of doing "great harm to our nation's national security."
Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Pompeo had harsh words for Assange as well, characterizing him as "a fraud, a coward hiding behind a screen."
More recently, pro-Russia congressman, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., took steps to broker a deal between the White House and Julian Assange, in which the WikiLeaks founder would turn over materials that he claims exonerates Russia from hacking prominent Democratic officials in the lead-up to the election.
