Here Are 56 Times Donald Trump Used WikiLeaks to Attack Clinton In the Election

For months, we’ve been bombarded with weekly micro-developments in a sprawling and nuanced investigation, likely the most complex in modern U.S. history. It has made many of us numb and annoyed, and we can often lose sight of the obvious. Then, when we remember the obvious, it’s hard to recall in proper context what’s at stake—namely, the system by which the will of the American people is freely and fairly expressed and enacted.

So in light of the truly major revelation yesterday—that Donald Trump Jr. was conspiring directly with WikiLeaks over Twitter messages during the final weeks of the campaign, and that all senior staffers knew it—I’d like to remind us just how stupidly obvious it is that Trump knew what he was doing the whole time. He was blatantly coordinating with a geopolitical adversary to attack his political opponent and steal the election.

Here’s the framework to remember: Donald Trump learned in his first-ever intelligence briefing as a candidate, on Aug. 17 (two days before his campaign manager Paul Manafort resigned), that the U.S. intelligence community knew Russia hacked the DNC emails that Wikileaks had been publishing. At minimum, then, we can say Donald Trump knew for months that he was helping Russia take down an American presidential candidate by weaponizing stolen information. And his entire campaign knew his son had gone right to the source.

I’ll lay out some evidence of Trump’s own willful engagement in this conspiracy in the form of the more than 50 tweets where he used WikiLeaks’s information to attack Clinton. The president and his campaign knowingly used stolen information to help Russia denigrate his opponent, and he proceeded to lie to the American people about it for months and months.

For perspective, Bill Clinton lied about a blowjob.

Quick Recap

Last night, the Atlantic broke the story that Donald Trump Jr. had been in contact with WikiLeaks in a series of direct messages on Twitter starting in the weeks before the election. The messages, which continued on and off until at least July 2017, show WikiLeaks soliciting inside influence from members of the Trump campaign at the highest level. The U.S. intelligence community has said WikiLeaks acted as an arm of the Russian government in its conspiracy to attack the 2016 election.

WikiLeaks reached out to DJTJ first, and over the months made a series of requests. Shortly after the Atlantic’s story broke, DJTJ released his communications with WikiLeaks. We then learned he had sent emails up the chain to alert the campaign’s inner circle, including Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, and Jared Kushner, who in turn shared it with Hope Hicks, a close aide to the President.

Most often DJTJ seemed to ignore the solicitations from WikiLeaks, but even though he only answered three messages in those three replies, he complied with two requests. For instance, at one point WikiLeaks (which even Trump’s hand-picked CIA Director Mike Pompeo calls “a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia”; I mean, the Kremlin has literally paid Assange) asked DJTJ to get his dad to tweet out a specific link to WikiLeaks’s archive of hacked Podesta emails.

“There’s many great stories the press are missing and we’re sure some of your follows [sic] will find it. Btw we just released Podesta Emails Part 4.”

DJTJ didn’t respond, but as a Wall Street Journal reporter pointed out, fifteen minutes after DJTJ received that message his dad tweeted, “Very little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks. So dishonest! Rigged system!” Then at a rally that day Trump thumped the same theme at three or four different times. Two days later DJTJ himself complied with the initial request and tweeted out the link WikiLeaks had given him.

At times, the requests were ridiculous: WikiLeaks wanted DJTJ to leak Trump’s tax returns to them; they urged Trump to reject the election results; they asked Trump as President-elect to have Australia appoint Julian Assange, the director of WikiLeaks, as its ambassador to the United States.

But read that again. WikiLeaks felt comfortable enough with Trump to ask him to reject the election results and throw our system of government into crisis.

That’s an insane thing to try to get your head around.

And DJTJ also solicited inside information from WikiLeaks. At one point he asked, “What’s behind this Wednesday leak I keep reading about?” (The day before, Roger Stone, an informal campaign adviser, had tweeted, “Wednesday @HillaryClinton is done. #WikiLeaks.”) WikiLeaks apparently didn’t reply. Both camps clearly maintained a cautionary distance from each other.

Of course, we can’t be sure what we’ve seen are the full DMs; it’s easy to delete them. We’d have to see WikiLeaks’ side, but even then we couldn’t fully trust it.

Again With The Tweets

If you’re not convinced by now that the Trump campaign and the Russian government knowingly and willingly coordinated their efforts, you’re probably beyond convincing. But even if you’re convinced, another problem is soon to muddy things further: WikiLeaks didn’t matter! It didn’t change any votes!

Well, of course it did. And two important people seemed to think it did matter. One of them was Mike Pence.

Here’s Pence discussing the hack’s significance to the election in an interview with Hugh Hewitt on July 29, 2016:

“If it is found that Russia or China or any other foreign power compromised the private email, or capture classified information, and then released that information through the Wikileaks or otherwise, there’d be serious consequences for that.

Why would Mike Pence think there should be “serious consequences,” regardless of the party that was attacked? Because it’s above all an attack on America, and it can undermine our faith in, and the functioning of, our democracy. (This happened.)

And here’s Pence again, flat-out denying reports last October (yes, there were reports at the time!) that the Trump campaign had anything to do with WikiLeaks. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Pence said. On that same day DJTJ tweeted the link that he got from his WikiLeaks conversation.

The other person who thought WikiLeaks could decide the election? Obviously Donald Trump.

Mr. Trump either brought up WikiLeaks directly, tweeted links to articles about emails from Wikileaks dumps, or exploited storylines from WikiLeaks dumps at least 56 times before the election. And that’s just on Twitter.

Again, the obvious things go unsaid: Mr. Trump didn’t encourage Russia and WikiLeaks to commit espionage to commit espionage against his political opponent for no reason. He was asking Putin to help him win.

And don’t forget that the U.S. intelligence community told Trump that they knew Russia stole the emails Wikileaks had been publishing. At minimum, then, we can say Donald Trump knew for months that he was helping Russia, a geopolitical and military adversary, take down an American presidential candidate by weaponizing stolen information.

You can look them up yourself here, one of the greatest online resources available for second-rate political journalists.

Jul 23, 2016: The Wikileaks e-mail release today was so bad to Sanders that it will make it impossible for him to support her, unless he is a fraud!

Jul 24, 2016: The Crooked Hillary V.P. choice is VERY disrespectful to Bernie Sanders and all of his supporters. Just another case of BAD JUDGEMENT [sic] by H

Jul 24, 2016: Crooked Hillary Clinton was not at all loyal to the person in her rigged system that pushed her over the top, DWS. Too bad Bernie flamed out

Jul 24, 2016: Even though Bernie Sanders has lost his energy and his strength, I don’t believe that his supporters will let Crooked Hillary off the hook!

Jul 24, 2016: The highly neurotic Debbie Wasserman Schultz is angry that, after stealing and cheating her way to a Crooked Hillary victory, she’s out!

Jul 25, 2016: Crooked Hillary Clinton knew everything that her “servant” was doing at the DNC – they just got caught, that’s all! They laughed at Bernie.

Jul 25, 2016: Here we go again with another Clinton scandal, and e-mails yet (can you believe). Crooked Hillary knew the fix was in, B never had a chance!

Jul 25, 2016: The State of Florida is so embarrassed by the antics of Crooked Hillary Clintonand Debbie Wasserman Schultz that they will vote for CHANGE!

Jul 29, 2016: #CrookedHillary Job Application [ins. cartoon of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz rigging DNC]

Aug 2, 2016: #ICYMI: John Podesta’s Brother Pocketed $180,000 from Putin’s Uranium Company

Aug 13, 2016: We now have confirmation as to one reason Crooked H wanted to be sure that nobody saw her e-mails – PAY-FOR-PLAY. How can she run for Pres?

Note: On Aug. 17, Mr. Trump received his first-ever intelligence briefing. Gov. Chris Christie and Gen. Mike Flynn accompany him. The agents tell them, among other things, that the intelligence community knows that Russia is behind the WikiLeaks dumps and DNC hacks. Mike Flynn goes bonkers at this point and Christie must physically restrain him. Note the gap between the time the campaign receives this information and the next flurry of WikiLeaks references.

Sep 3, 2016: .@CNN is so disgusting in their bias, but they are having a hard time promoting Crooked Hillary in light of the new e-mail scandals.

Sep 4, 2016: The polls are close so Crooked Hillary is getting out of bed and will campaign tomorrow.Why did she hammer 13 devices and acid-wash e-mails [sic]

Oct 2, 2016Bernie should pull his endorsement of Crooked Hillary after she deceived [sic] him and then attacked him and his supporters.

Oct 11, 2016: I hope people are looking at the disgraceful behavior of Hillary Clinton as exposed by WikiLeaks. She is unfit to run.

Oct 11, 2016: Wow, @CNN Town Hall questions were given to Crooked Hillary Clinton in advance of big debates against Bernie Sanders. Hillary & CNN FRAUD!

Oct 12, 2016: Very little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks. So dishonest! Rigged system! [Fifteen minutes after DJTJ receives message from WikiLeaks about lackluster press attention.]

Oct 16, 2016: A country that Crooked Hillary says has funded ISIS also gave Wild Bill $1 million for his birthday? SO CORRUPT!

Oct 16, 2016: “The vast majority felt she should be prosecuted…” — even senior FBI officials thought Crooked was guilty.

Oct 16, 2016: Wow, interview released by Wikileakes [sic] shows “quid pro quo” in Crooked Hillary e-mail probe.Such a dishonest person – & Paul Ryan does zilch!

Oct 16, 2016: We’ve all wondered how Hillary avoided prosecution for her email scheme. Wikileaks may have found the answer. Obama!

Oct 17, 2016: WikiLeaks proves even the Clinton campaign knew Crooked mishandled classified info, but no one gets charged? RIGGED!

Oct 17, 2016: Voter fraud! Crooked Hillary Clinton even got the questions to a debate, and nobody says a word. Can you imagine if I got the questions?

Oct 17, 2016: Crooked Hillary colluded w/FBI and DOJ and media is covering up to protect her. It’s a #RiggedSystem!

Oct 18, 2016: ‘Food Groups’ – Emails Show Clinton Campaign Organized Potential VPs By Race And Gender

Oct 18, 2016: ‘Clinton Campaign Tried to Limit Damage From Classified Info on Email Server’ #DrainTheSwamp

Oct 18, 2016: Pay-to-play. Collusion. Cover-ups. And now bribery? So CROOKED. I will #DrainTheSwamp.

Oct 18, 2016: If we let Crooked run the govt, history will remember 2017 as the year America lost its independence. #DrainTheSwamp

Oct 19, 2016: Bernie Sanders on HRC: Bad Judgement. John Podesta on HRC: Bad Instincts. #BigLeagueTruth #Debate

Oct 19, 2016: More Anti-Catholic Emails From Team Clinton

Oct 19, 2016: ‘Hillary Clinton Deleted Emails With Her Email Server Technician’

Oct 19, 2016: Crooked’s camp incited violence at my rallies. These incidents weren’t “spontaneous” – like she claimed in Benghazi!

Oct 19, 2016: Crooked @HillaryClinton’s foundation is a CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE. Time to #DrainTheSwamp! #BigLeagueTruth #Debate

Oct 20, 2016: Why didn’t Hillary Clinton announce that she was inappropriately given the debate questions – she secretly used them! Crooked Hillary.

Oct 20, 2016: Want access to Crooked Hillary? Don’t forget – it’s going to cost you! #DrainTheSwamp #PayToPlay

Oct 20, 2016: Crooked took MILLIONS from oppressive ME countries. Will she give the $$$ back? Probably not. Don’t forget her slogan.

Oct 21 2016: #CrookedHillary “was at center of negotiating $12M commitment from King Mohammed VI of Morocco” to Clinton Fdn.

Oct 21, 2016: {Crooked Hillary Clinton} created this mess, and she knows it. #DrainTheSwamp [links to pieces about Huma/Morocco money]

Oct 21, 2016: Huma calls it a “MESS,” the rest of us call it CORRUPT! WikiLeaks catches Crooked in the act – again. #DrainTheSwamp

Oct 21, 2016: WikiLeaks reveals Clinton camp’s work with ‘VERY friendly and malleable reporters’ #DrainTheSwamp #CrookedHillary

Oct 21, 2016: #CrookedHillary sending U.S. intelligence info. to Podesta’s hacked email is ‘unquestionably an OPSEC violation’

Oct 22, 2016: WikiLeaks: ‘Clinton-Kaine Even Lied About Timing of Veep Pick’

Oct 22, 2016: ‘Huma Abedin told Clinton her secret email account caused problems’

Oct 23, 2016: #CrookedHillary #PayToPlay

Oct 23, 2016: ‘Clinton Charity Got Up To $56 Million From Nations That Are Anti-Women, Gays’ #CrookedHillary

Oct 24, 2016: Why has nobody asked Kaine about the horrible views emanated on WikiLeaks about Catholics? Media in the tank for Clinton but Trump will win!

Oct 27, 2016: ‘WikiLeaks Drip-Drop Releases Prove One Thing: There’s No Nov. 8 Deadline on Clinton’s Dishonesty and Scandals’

Oct 28, 2016: If my people said the things about me that Podesta & Hillary’s people said about her, I would fire them out of self respect. “Bad instincts”

Nov 1, 2016: ‘Podesta urged Clinton team to hand over emails after use of private server emerged’

Nov 1, 2016: WikiLeaks emails reveal Podesta urging Clinton camp to ‘dump’ emails. Time to #DrainTheSwamp!

Nov 1, 2016: So terrible that Crooked didn’t report she got the debate questions from Donna Brazile, if that were me it would have been front page news!

Nov 2, 2016: Clinton camp fumed when surrogate told supporters Clinton planned to betray labor on TPP post-election

Nov 4, 2016: “The Clinton Campaign at Obama Justice” #DrainTheSwamp

Nov 4, 2016: Clinton Aides: ‘Definitely’ Not Releasing Some HRC Emails

Nov 5, 2016: ‘Must Act Immediately’: Clinton Charity Lawyer Told Execs They Were Breaking The Law

Nov 5, 2016: Top Clinton Aides Bemoan Campaign ‘All Tactics,’ No Vision

Yet on this very same Twitter feed Trump has claimed repeatedly that the Democrats “invented” the “made up” Russia “hoax.” Just this weekend he called the Congressional probes into Russian interference “an artificial Democrat hit job.” (Those probes have bipartisan support.)

Beyond Twitter, Trump mentioned WikiLeaks at least 164 times in the last month of the campaign alone. He also brought WikiLeaks up in all three debates, which reached hundreds of millions of viewers. On top of that, Russian-bought Facebook posts that pushed some of these emails and similar lines of attack reached 126 million Americans.

Not 126 million views. 126 million people.

Why would Trump commit so much of his campaign time, money, and effort to pushing this content if he didn’t think it would have a significant effect on the outcome of the election? Of course it affected the outcome: Mr. Trump lost by less than 80,000 votes spread across three states.

But now we have to come to grips, as we periodically must, with the fact that this all happened. What’s more, we have to remember it’s not just another piece of Trump-Russia trivia: Donald Trump stole the election. He isn’t a legitimate President. We’ve reached a point, or we soon will, where we as public citizens don’t need to see much more evidence any time soon to be convinced of the truth that there was indeed a Trump-Russia conspiracy. It’s more important right now that we have time to prepare for what will happen to the country when all the evidence we haven’t seen comes to bear against the President of the United States. That revolution won’t be tweeted.