Politics

Report: Manafort And Assange Had Secret Meetings In London

The Guardian reports Paul Manafort and Julian Assange met several times before the 2016 election. They've both denied it.

Report: Manafort And Assange Had Secret Meetings In London
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Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met several times with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, according to a report published Tuesday by The Guardian.

Unnamed sources in the article say Manafort and Assange met in 2013, 2015 and around the time Manafort joined the Trump campaign in March 2016.

Several months later, in June, WikiLeaks began releasing thousands of hacked emails from members of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. This summer, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers in connection with the hacks. But that indictment did not specifically name WikiLeaks, Assange or Manafort.

Both Manafort and WikiLeaks have denied the accusations in The Guardian's report. In a statement, Manafort called the story "totally false" and said he's "never met Julian Assange or anyone connected to him." Wikileaks said on Twitter that Assange plans to sue the paper for libel.

Also on Tuesday, CNN reported Mueller is investigating if, during a 2017 meeting, Manafort and Ecuador's president discussed either WikiLeaks or Assange. 

Additional reporting from Newsy affiliate CNN.