Amid the comedic, frightening, and altogether peculiar aftermath of Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, WikiLeaks — which had previously been branded, via a wild conspiracy theory, a tool of the Russian Federation for publishing scores of documents on Hillary Clinton and virtually none pertaining to the president — has now offered a bounty of $100,000 for recordings from the Oval Office of the pair’s communications prior to that termination.
In fact, the publishing icon included a QR code with its tweet announcing the hefty reward, and encouraged supporters — or those wondering what actually happened — to donate and up the ante to convince trepidatious whistleblowers to fork over video footage.
“WikiLeaks offers US$100k for the Trump-Comey tapes,” the publisher tweeted. “You can increase the reward via most methods at https://wikileaks.org/donate (tell us).”
WikiLeaks offers US$100k for the Trump-Comey tapes.
You can increase the reward via most methods at https://t.co/lmsmphuH2N (tell us) pic.twitter.com/B1URWyEXZk
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 12, 2017
That generous offer was also proffered to Facebook users, where WikiLeaks included its address for (currently skyrocketing in value) Bitcoin.
Much of the to-do was in response to the U.S. president’s veritable temper tantrum on Twitter this morning, in which he underhandedly if impotently threatened,
James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
James Comey better hope that there are no “tapes” of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer later refused to confirm or deny the existence of any tapes from that Oval Office conversation, while trying to placate the uproarious American spectacle sparked by the president’s rant — telling the press Trump’s threatening tweet, in fact, evidently was “not a threat,” and adding simply,
The President has nothing further to say on that.
Democrats from both the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees demanded the release of any existent recordings to Congress, as Representatives John Conyers Jr. and Elijah Cummings stated,
Under normal circumstances, we would not consider credible any claims that the White House may have taped conversations of meetings with the president. However, because of the many false statements made by White House officials this week, we are compelled to ask whether any such recordings do in fact exist.
In a letter to White House counsel Donald McGahn, CNN reports, the two ranking members of their respective committees requested copies of all recordings between Trump and the terminated head of the FBI, noting — also without a threat,
It is a crime to intimidate or threaten any potential witness with the intent to influence, delay, or prevent their official testimony.The President’s actions this morning — as well as his admission yesterday on national television that he fired Director Comey because he was investigating Trump campaign officials and their connections to the Russian government — raise the specter of possible intimidation and obstruction of justice. The President’s actions also risk undermining the ongoing criminal and counter-intelligence investigations and the independence of federal law enforcement agencies.
Between firing Comey and undertaking a one-man Twitter storm, the president must have missed WikiLeaks’ response to his non-threat, which seemed to suggest the former FBI chief pass along those Oval Office video souvenirs, replying,
If there are–you know where to send them: wikileaks.org/#submit.
It would seem WikiLeaks handily proved its detractors — those convinced by anti-Russia, pro-U.S. propaganda its fidelity lies with Donald Trump and not pure facts — completely wrong in offering a reward for tapes which feasibly would paint the president in a light as sour as that experienced by Hillary Clinton upon the publication of damaging leaks.
With political fallout still smoldering, the Trump administration has likely run out its believability in attempted deflections on the Comey matter, as an impatient corporate and alternative press awaits the next revelation — from WikiLeaks or the president’s Twitter account, depending — as if on pins and needles for the next episode of a demented, dystopian cable series.
In the meantime, the growing bounty offered by WikiLeaks to entice a whistleblower — perhaps even Comey, himself — to step forward with the recordings of one of the most talked about terminations of a public official since ol’ Tricky Dick, former President Richard Nixon, abruptly removed the Watergate special prosecutor in 1973.
And we all know how swimmingly that oh-so similar ploy worked for Nixon.
Claire Bernish began writing as an independent, investigative journalist in 2015, with works published and republished around the world. Not one to hold back, Claire’s particular areas of interest include U.S. foreign policy, analysis of international affairs, and everything pertaining to transparency and thwarting censorship. To keep up with the latest uncensored news, follow her on Facebook or Twitter: @Subversive_Pen. This article first appeared here at TheFreeThoughtProject.com
Wikileaks is controlled opposition. First, assange is in the ecuador embassy. Did you know they use USD as their official currency? When you control a countrys currency, you control that country. Second, wikileaks was used to destabilize many mid east countries. Guess who benefitted from that? Third, MSM gives it a lot of press. Real whistleblowers get ignored by msm. Fourth, it hasnt told truth abt 911. That is the real litmus test
My goodness but you give a lot of power to Wikileaks, imagining that it destabilized a number of “mid east” countries. I always thought it was American bombs that destabilized these countries.
Dr. Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research explained how Wikileaks was used (along with NGOs) to incite protests in the targeted countries, he also showed Wikileaks links to the US Establishment / Govt / Freedom House CIA Front.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/who-is-behind-wikileaks-2/22389
The good Doctor can have bad days like all of the rest of us.
If you had read the article you would have noticed Chossudovsky carefully sourced his research and also noted Dr. Webster Tarpley’s research confirming the same from a different but complementary research set.
That Assange utterly rejects 9/11 Truth is probably something that doesn’t resonate with you as a red flag either since you hold to the notion there are no globalists or internationalists and there are no big conspiracies such as false flags 9/11, OKC, 7/7, and probably Gladio too, even though it’s been publicly admitted in Europe.
On the contrary, I very much believe in conspiracies, although some would be systematic rather than personalities. In other words the “devil” made me do it! The way the system is managed gives rise to unconscionable acts, rather than an individual and his friends planning it. Regardless, only fools would believe the government story of 9/11!
Good to hear that. But in the past you’ve scoffed at internationalists and the NWO. Why imply Chussodovsky’s research and conclusions are not right, that he is “having a bad day” or whatever you were implying?
tarpley has also gone off the rez. but has a superb analytical mind.
I agree, he can hit ’em out of the ballpark and other times is blinded by his love for heavy handed socialism.
and yet Chossudovsky is largely a novice, who doesnt actually understand the geopolitical equation either – nevertheless, as with many good ppl on snowden, including edmonds, rappaport etc. – they have the ability to find truffles and have instinct enough to get to level one of what is going on – much farther than most – i really have seen Chossudovskydrop the ball here and there – but his work on wikileaks is quite excellent in this regard.
We’re on exactly the same page. IMHO, like Tarpley, he blinds himself with a deep statist bent …. just can’t quite connect the dots all the way to the top. Also seems to be a common problem with academics, unable to see the forest for all the facts (trees).
i dont know who you are truthseeker, but you are correct and it is extremely heartening to read your words here. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa8412887af7a165b336815a12506d0fa927b4450b9b3d437d996545794b112b.jpg
All this news about Comey is coming from the installed Media. Are most of their stories out there just to hide what is really going on in the Economy. Forget for once that the Economy is great again and the Jobs are back, and everything else they tell you. The Dollar is worth Crap and All Countries in the World are sitting on a Mountain of Debt. That part is real enough and I don’t see Trump and his Government trying to fix any of it. The simple reason is, that it can’t be fixed. So the answer is to keep everybody believing in all kinds of Bullshit and hope for War to hide the mistakes.
The one thing I think that Obama proved is nobody is trying to fix anything. Its all part of the plan. Mr. trump is just playing his part. What ever they do have planned is out of the peoples hands. We will just be victims of this as always.
I believe the world’s national debts CAN be fixed if money were to be spent into the real economy instead of going straight to the stock exchanges to fuel asset bubbles. We need to get rid of central banks, separate commercial and investment banking and have an independent body deciding on monetary policy, not the banksters-run central banks.
See: http://positivemoney.org/our-proposals/
Veri Tas. The answer may well be to change the Economic Blueprint. Everything is part of the Debt Based System that Central Banks ride on. Fiat Currency is to them central to their scheme. The System cannot perpetuate itself and will collapse. Most people will become Paupers if they stick with the System. Avoid the Stock Market or any Fiat Ponzi Scheme at all costs, and get back to the simpler investments. Precious Metals and Land. You don’t have to “Turn Hippy”, but you can become more self sustaining. Worldwide, this System is running out of Time. Time is fundamental in getting ourselves ready for this Big Event.
Blue579, I just don’t believe the conspiracy theory touching upon Wikileaks passes the smell test. If it were true it would have to nullify every other thing Wikileaks has accomplished in forcing transparency on major nations’ governments. It just doesn’t fit.