WikiLeaks on Tuesday afternoon ripped a new Guardian report alleging secret talks between former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying the organization would bet $1 million there was no meeting between the two men.
“Remember this day when the Guardian permitted a serial fabricator to totally destroy the paper’s reputation,” the WikiLeaks Twitter account posted. “@WikiLeaks is willing to bet the Guardian a million dollars and its editor’s head that Manafort never met Assange.”
{mosads}The Guardian reported that Manafort held private conversations with Assange inside London’s Ecuadorian Embassy around the time he joined then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign team. They met multiple times between 2013 and 2016, according to the paper.
WikiLeaks, months after a meeting with Manafort, released a trove of emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee by Russian intelligence officers. Manafort has denied any involvement in the WikiLeaks hack.
The organization ultimately published thousands of emails that the CIA concluded were stolen by Russia’s military intelligence agency.
Manafort was previously said to be cooperating with Robert Mueller’s investigation in exchange for a plea deal, but new filings Monday from the special counsel say Manafort violated his plea agreement by lying to federal prosecutors.
In September, Manafort pleaded guilty to two federal charges as part of a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid a second criminal trial in Washington, D.C.
The deal came after a Virginia jury convicted him on eight counts of bank and tax fraud. The jury deadlocked on another 10 charges, and federal prosecutors said they would seek to dismiss the remaining counts as part of the agreement.