Trump counter-punched, as their campaign is revealed to have sought out Assange

[Amadeus]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-hillary-clinton-deleted-emails-a8020111.html

AWWW.

A political data firm employed by the Trump campaign sought to work with WikiLeaks, publisher Julian Assange has said.

The proposed partnership was first uncovered by the Daily Beast, which reported that Cambridge Analytica approached the anti-secrecy organisation in an effort to locate the 33,000 emails deleted from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

The Trump campaign effectively found an ally in WikiLeaks during the campaign when the organisation published thousands of internal emails from Democratic Party operatives, moving Donald Trump to proclaim “I love WikiLeaks” in response to one disclosure.

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A spokesman for Cambridge Analytica did not respond to a message seeking comment.

The whereabouts of the deleted emails and Ms Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was serving as secretary of state were both prominent issues during the presidential contest. Mr Trump and allies often accused Ms Clinton of duplicity or criminality, leading chants of “lock her up” at rallies and directly threatening to jail Ms Clinton during a presidential debate, and Mr Trump publicly invited Russia to search for the emails.

After playing roles in the contentious 2016 election, both WikiLeaks and Cambridge Analytica have become entangled in ongoing investigations into Russia’s effort to influence the outcome of the vote.

During the campaign, WikiLeaks published reams of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and from John Podesta, an adviser to Ms Clinton.

American intelligence agencies concluded that the Russian government directed the hacks, part of what they later described as a broad-based disruption campaign ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Assange has denied that the Russian government supplied his organization with the emails.