Following Julian Assange’s arrest Thursday morning for reportedly helping Chelsea Manning hack into Department of Defense computers, all eyes turned to one of his most powerful proponents. Back in 2016, Donald Trump seemingly couldn’t get enough of WikiLeaks, praising the organization roughly 160 times for publishing hacked e-mails that embarrassed Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. “I love WikiLeaks,” the then-presidential candidate said in October 2016. ”It’s been amazing what’s coming out on WikiLeaks,” he said days later in Ohio. At times, he criticized the media for not reporting on WikiLeaks dumps (“So dishonest! Rigged system!”), and he once told the audience at a rally that he’d been tempted to stay on the plane and keep reading the latest revelations: “They were just announcing new WikiLeaks!” he shouted to applause. “And I wanted to stay there, but I didn’t want to keep you waiting. Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks.”
Strangely, Trump’s love for Assange’s renegade organization seems to have cooled. When asked on Thursday for his thoughts regarding Assange’s arrest, the president reversed course. “I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing,” he said, adding that he knew “there was something having to do with Julian Assange,” a man he once praised for standing up to the “dishonest” press.
“I’ve been seeing what was happening with Assange. That will be a determination, I would imagine, mostly by the attorney general, who is doing an excellent job,” Trump said. “I know nothing really about it—it’s not my deal in life. I don’t really have an opinion.”
In fairness, as the desperate tour guide at George Washington’s Mount Vernon home can attest, this is a president who immediately loses interest in anything that does not directly affect him. The charges against Assange, despite originating from Trump’s own Department of Justice, stem from activity pre-dating the 2016 election cycle, and are therefore unconnected to Robert Mueller’s investigations into collusion or obstruction, or to any related satellite probes into the president’s associates. Moreover, WikiLeaks is no longer pumping out e-mails that damage one of his political opponents. And the former member of Trump’s circle with the strongest alleged ties to Assange, onetime adviser Roger Stone, has essentially been disowned by the president.
Interestingly, Trump’s brush-off may be an indication that Assange has been abandoned by both sides of the proverbial discourse. In the Obama era, the D.O.J. declined to prosecute Assange, out of concern that it would be perceived as anti-press. But Assange lost most of the left’s allegiance over the course of the 2016 election cycle, as his organization engaged in activities that benefitted Trump. Now, rather than stand by him, the president is walking away altogether. (His administration seemingly began laying the groundwork to prosecute Assange as early as April 2017.) Or perhaps he’s simply reverting to form. In 2010, Trump told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade that he found WikiLeaks “disgraceful,” and believed its actions should be punishable by “like [the] death penalty or something.”
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