WikiLeaks Cancels, Reschedules, And Continues To Drop Breadcrumbs For An October Surprise

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s seeming crusade against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has been accelerating for months. At its most ridiculous, the site has been fueling conspiracy theories surrounding a DNC staffer’s death. And its most pointed assaults against Clinton have involved the dumping of emails and voicemails, both of which humiliated the DNC and brought more scrutiny upon Clinton’s perceived trustworthiness. Edward Snowden inserted himself into a consideration of the ethics of these maneuvers, and in turn, Assange accused Snowden of simply angling for a pardon in the case that Clinton is elected president.

Regardless of motive or boy-fights with Snowden, Assange has alluded to more documents that could harm Clinton’s chances of winning. In fact, his hints have strongly suggested an October surprise. Possibly in support of this theory, Trump surrogate Roger Stone vague-tweeted about Clinton being “done” on Wednesday and name-dropped WikiLeaks in the process.

However, a few tweets from NBC producer Jesse Rodriguez could disappoint anyone who was popping some corn in preparation for some juicy Clinton dirty laundry. A few days ago, Rodriguez disclosed the cancellation of some huge announcement (due to “security concerns”) that Assange was planning to make from his little balcony at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Some anticipated that this could be the biggest Clinton-related document drop yet.

But on Sunday, Rodriguez revealed that Assange had decided to make a Tuesday announcement via live video link in a Berlin press conference. Will this be the same big announcement, and does this have anything to do with a Clinton-related data dump? Stone’s suggestion is whatever is planned by WikiLeaks will have a huge Wednesday impact on the Clinton campaign. We’ll have to wait until Tuesday to find out, but Assange sure loves the drama.

WikiLeaks did post something sketchy on Monday morning to its Twitter account. The following unsourced screencap — if it represents the truth — would only amount to a very tasteless joke (and not a wise one in retrospect, considering similar comments that Trump has made) from then-Secretary of State Clinton, who allegedly asked if it was possible to “drone this guy,” meaning Assange. Surely, this doesn’t qualify as an October surprise, for an alleged transcript from a nonexistent (conspiracy-laden) source proves nothing. Actually, this tweet links to an Alt-Right website that Snopes has proven false on prior occasions. So, this is likely not true, and WikiLeaks is probably just rolling in conspiracy-theory land again.

(Via Jesse Rodriguez on Twitter & The Hill)