The Ecuadorian government admitted it cut off and limited Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s internet access as a way to stop interfering with the U.S. presidential election. The anti-secrecy website has been publishing emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta’s Gmail account, including transcripts from her speeches to Goldman Sachs.
The government had enough, but also expressed its continued support of Assange:
“The Government of Ecuador respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states. It does not interfere in external electoral processes, nor does it favor any particular candidate,” Ecuador said in a statement.“Accordingly, Ecuador has exercised its sovereign right to temporarily restrict access to some of its private communications network within its Embassy in the United Kingdom.”
The embassy agreed to give Assange asylum in 2012 at its London embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape charges.
The snafu occurred over the weekend after the site published three Goldman Sachs interviews from Hillary. Wikileaks confirmed Assange lost internet at the embassy, but when media outlets asked for a comment, the Ecuadorians refused to say anything.
On Tuesday, Wikileaks said that multiple sources claimed that Secretary of State John Kerry asked the Ecuadorian government to cut off Assange’s internet while he helped the Colombian government negotiate a peace deal with FARC. The State Department quickly denied the accusations:
“While our concerns about WikiLeaks are longstanding, any suggestion that Secretary Kerry or the State Department were involved in shutting down WikiLeaks is false,” [State Department spokesman John] Kirby said. “Reports that Secretary Kerry had conversations with Ecuadorian officials about this are simply untrue. Period.”
The Ecuadorian government also released a statement affirming its support of Assange:
Translation: “Faced with speculation of the last hours, the government of Ecuador reaffirms the validity of granted asylum to Julian Assange four years ago. We reaffirm that the protection of the Ecuadorian state will continue while the circumstances that led to the granting of the asylum remain.”
No one in Hillary’s campaign has confirmed the authenticity of the emails, but have not denied them either. Podesta told reporters he blames Russia for the hacks:
“I’ve been involved in politics for nearly five decades,” Mr. Podesta told reporters aboard the Clinton campaign plane. “This definitely is the first campaign that I’ve been involved with in which I’ve had to tangle with Russian intelligence agencies,” he added, “who seem to be doing everything that they can on behalf of our opponent.”
Despite the situation, Wikileaks continues to work and has dumped more Podesta emails.
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