Donald Trump claimed he doesn’t know a thing about WikiLeaks following the news of Julian Assange‘s arrest in London on Thursday, and people on Twitter are calling out the president for his obvious lie.
“I know nothing about Wikileaks. It’s not my thing,” Trump told reporters in an Oval Office pool spray. “I know nothing really about [Assange]. It’s not my deal in life.”
Assange was arrested after the Ecuadorian government took away his political asylum status, and the U.S. Department of Justice is for helping Chelsea Manning hack the Department of Defense’s computers.
When asked what punishment Assange ought to face, Trump answered “I don’t really have any opinion. I know the Attorney General will be involved in that and he’ll make a decision.”
It’s interesting that Trump would claim he knows “nothing” of Wikileaks when, as reporters noted, he used to say “I love Wikileaks” when the organization was releasing stolen, damaging information about Hillary Clinton and the DNC during the 2016 Election.
Trump today in the Oval Office: "I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It's not my thing."
Flashback to the campaign. Trump: "WikiLeaks. I love WikiLeaks." pic.twitter.com/eYfg5zeySI [1]
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 11, 2019 [2]
This, in and of itself, contradicts the fact that Trump said Assange ought to be executed back in 201O for WikiLeaks’ role in disseminating Manning’s classified info from the DOD.
Twitter had a field day:
Trump just now in the Oval actually said this.
Beyond absurd.
Does he think everyone's forgotten? He praised WikiLeaks up and down in that final month of the campaign. Said they were doing a great service by posting emails stolen by Russian spies and designed to help him win. pic.twitter.com/oYoLh4NR4B [3]
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) April 11, 2019 [4]
Trump literally had a poster of Julian Assange up on the wall in his 2016 presidential campaign debate war room. It featured Assange saying: “Dear Hillary, I miss reading your classified emails.”
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) April 11, 2019 [5]
Trump today:
"I know nothing about Wikileaks. It’s not my thing"
Trump, Nov. 4 2016:
“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.”
— Jordan Fabian (@Jordanfabian) April 11, 2019 [6]
Either trump is lying that he doesn’t know Wikileaks or has become senile and cannot remember anything he previously said. Both are completely probable explanations.
— William Gilbert ???? (@TrippingBlocks) April 11, 2019 [7]
Every single member of his base should call him out on his total BS. But they won't. #TrumpLies [8]
— Pankaj Ramani (@pmramani) April 11, 2019 [9]
Donald Trump says he knows "nothing about Julian Assange and Wikileaks" – so I fixed it. pic.twitter.com/JNspk2NRXs [10]
— Paul Lee Ticks (@PaulLeeTicks) April 11, 2019 [11]
Your reminder that Trump praised Wikileaks nearly EVERY DAY on the 2016 campaign trail. https://t.co/YEWGlyKcLC [12]
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) April 11, 2019 [13]