Assange Claims ‘The Clinton Threat Machine Is Ferocious’

Julian Assange claims he has been “attacked” by the “Clinton threat machine” and described the attackers as “ferocious.”

The latest WikiLeaks release proved the DNC colluded with the Clinton campaign to smear her rival Bernie Sanders. Assange, speaking via video feed at the Green Party convention in Houston, Texas, on Saturday, warned Jill Stein that she is next on the Clinton threat machine hit list.

“I’ve just seen that the attacks have started to ramp up on Jill Stein. They are going to go through the roof. I’ve had attacks from what is effectively the Clinton threat machine. They’re now post-convention. You guys are going to be post-convention. Those attacks are going to be ferocious. But you’ll see from that and learn lessons from that about how the media works and how one can defend your principles and ideas in the face of that kind of media corruption.”

Assange urged scepticism when dealing with “traditional media” saying mainstream outlets are “ultimately owned by some of the largest industrial conglomerates in the world,” and explained the vital importance of the alternative media in the current media climate.

“As the editor of WikiLeaks, I have gone through a lot of battles. I have seen corrupt mainstream media outlets try to not report initially on some of our materials, spin them in other directions—that’s happened just recently. And I have also seen good journalists, embedded in those institutions, fighting to be accurate and truthful. There are good people even in bad institutions. Most of our sources are good people wanting to do good things, within the U.S. military or intelligence or political parties.

“So, my strong advice is to understand, first of all, the necessity to be very skeptical of the traditional media apparatus, which is ultimately owned by some of the largest industrial conglomerates in the world, that’s firmly connected to other points of power; work around it; become your own media in practice, in small ways, in big ways; to keep—to keep your principles and sense of clarity on principles.

“What the Clinton campaign is doing at the moment is trying to say, ‘Well, OK, yes, maybe we’re connected to arms dealers and to Saudi Arabia, and, yes, maybe we subverted the integrity of the Democratic primaries, etc., etc., but you will just have to swallow that. You will just have to swallow that, or else you will get Donald Trump.’ That’s a form of extortion. And—well, it is. It is a form of extortion.”