The journalist who first reported on the correspondence between Donald Trump Jr. and WikiLeaks on Monday said the most outrageous part of their secret communication was when WikiLeaks told Trump Jr. on Election Day that Donald Trump should challenge the results when it looked as though he would lose the race.
"They're pushing this extremely harmful, dangerous tactic," Julia Ioffe told MSNBC's Chris Hayes. "We should say, Donald Trump Jr. did not respond to that, but to tell the Republican nominee to not accept the election results is . . . I mean, that's jaw-dropping."
WikiLeaks published classified and/or leaked content on its website, including emails from the Democratic National Committee that painted Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and others in a bad light.
Ioffe reported someone at WikiLeaks communicated with Trump Jr. on several occasions via direct messages on Twitter between last September and this July, although Trump Jr. stopped responding last October.
WikiLeaks asked Trump Jr. for favors and provided information to him. Trump Jr. did not respond to every message. Trump Jr.'s lawyers gave the Twitter messages to congressional investigators who are looking into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in any way during the election.
MSNBC's Hayes questioned Assange's motives on Twitter.
Assange responded, saying he did it to "generate a transformative discussion about corrupt media, corrupt PACs and primary corruption."
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