The controversial founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has made no secret of the fact that he believes he has information that will derail the presidential campaign of Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. Assange has even gone so far as to claim that the information in his possession will lead to Clinton’s arrest. In a recent interview, the world’s most famous whistleblower states that he will deliver a damaging data dump just prior to the first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on September 26th.
The Clinton campaign has long been dogged by the missing emails that were on a private server used by Clinton during her time as United States Secretary of State. Some are speculating that the information Assange claims to have contains those missing emails, and that the foreign operative believes there is enough there to do significant damage.
It is interesting to note that Assange made his recent comments in a report that was filed by the Russian Times (RT). Earlier this month, Donald Trump boldly encouraged Russia to uncover the missing emails in an act that many felt called for espionage from a foreign country in the effort to influence the United States presidential election. For his part, Assange has denied that Russia is involved in any way.
For those who might question Assange’s power, think back to the WikiLeaks revelations made just prior to the Democratic National Convention. Those leaks led to the resignation of Democratic National Committee Chairperson, Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the eve of Clinton’s nomination.
While some applaud Assange’s efforts, others point to the fact that he has engaged in other data dumps which appear to serve no purpose other than harming innocent people. Assange has published personal data of individuals with no apparent allegations of wrongdoing, and he even outed a gay man in Saudi Arabia where homosexuality is a crime punishable by death.
If Assange is successful in his attempts to discredit Clinton and influence the presidential election, it will be the first time a whistleblower has exerted such political power.
If Assange does manage to take Clinton down, this may be the first time in history that a foreign operative helps determine the fate of an American election, unless, of course, you count Rupert Murdoch.