Did Donald Trump Consider Assassinating Julian Assange? CIA Director Wanted Revenge For Data Leak
A Yahoo! News report Sunday said former President Donald Trump’s administration and the CIA considered kidnapping and assassinating WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 2017.
The report, which was based on conversations with more than 30 former officials, revealed that Trump’s CIA director Mike Pompeo sought revenge against Assange for leaking the agency’s sensitive hacking tools and causing "the largest data loss in CIA history."
The huge CIA breach, known as Vault 7, detailed the CIA’s activities and capabilities in regards to electronic attack methods and cyber warfare.
A former Trump national security official told Yahoo! News that CIA senior officials “were completely detached from reality because they were so embarrassed” about the leak.
The official noted that “there seemed to be no boundaries” and discussions between Pompeo and CIA staff raised such concern that certain officials said they felt like they needed to tell members of Congress.
Part of the CIA’s campaign against WikiLeaks also included “extensive spying on WikiLeaks associates, sowing discord among the group’s members, and stealing their electronic devices.”
Assange is in a London jail after his arrest in April 2019. A lower court judge had refused a request to send him back to the U.S. so he can face 17 espionage charges.
The CIA and Pompeo have not commented on the Yahoo! News report. Trump denied to Yahoo! News that he ever considered having Assange assassinated. "In fact, I think he’s been treated very badly,” Trump said.
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