Russia

Paul Manafort Met With Julian Assange in 2016

Written by SK Ashby

We already know that people within Trump's orbit such as his longtime henchman Roger Stone communicated with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before hacked Democratic emails were released to the public in 2016, but the Guardian dropped a bombshell this morning that no one knew about.

The Guardian reports that Trump's former campaign manager and convicted felon Paul Manafort met with Assange in the spring of 2016 and during the years prior.

A well-placed source has told the Guardian that Manafort went to see Assange around March 2016. Months later WikiLeaks released a stash of Democratic emails stolen by Russian intelligence officers. [...]

Manafort’s 2016 visit to Assange lasted about 40 minutes, one source said, adding that the American was casually dressed when he exited the embassy, wearing sandy-coloured chinos, a cardigan and a light-coloured shirt.

Visitors normally register with embassy security guards and show their passports. Sources in Ecuador, however, say Manafort was not logged.

While Manafort was not listed on regular visitor logs, the Guardian reports that a secret visitor log drafted by Ecuadorian intelligence lists Manafort as a visitor. The Guardian claims to have seen the secret log.

The Guardian also reports that Manafort visited Assange at Ecuador's embassy in London in 2013 and 2015. We can only speculate why these meetings took place, but Manafort was working for former Ukrainian president and Russian stooge Viktor Yanukovych at the time.

I don't think it's a coincidence that this story has been reported less than 24 hours after we learned that Manafort has been lying to special prosecutor Robert Mueller.