Britain’s Guardian ‘Corrects’ Its Lying on Alleged London Meetings between Manafort and Assange

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Britain’s Guardian ‘Corrects’ Its Lying on Alleged London Meetings between Manafort and Assange

Nov. 28, 2018 (EIRNS)—After publishing a “confirmed” story yesterday that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and some unnamed “Russians” had met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange three times at Ecuador’s London Embassy, the Guardian had to briefly pull the article and then repost it with corrections. As journalist Max Blumenthal put it, the Guardian has become “a bulletin board for fabricated national security state propaganda.” The article’s co-author, Luke Harding, whose book is titled Collusion: How Russia Helped Trump Win the White House, is a known asset of British intelligence.

Initially, the Guardian story cited “two sources” plus a document from Ecuador’s National Intelligence Secretariat, Senain, as proof that the alleged meetings took place. A bit later, after fierce denials from both Manafort and Assange, and threats to file a libel suit against the daily, the Guardian amended the story to remove the “two sources” claim, and otherwise water down the language referring to the alleged meetings, RT reported.

There is significant skepticism about the Guardian’s story in any case. Investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald tweeted that while he hopes the original story turns out to be true, because the Guardian is such “an important” paper, the “skepticism over this story is very widespread, including among Assange’s most devoted haters, because it’s so sketchy. If Manafort were there, there’s video. Let’s see it.”

Blumenthal asked why Guardian reporter Luke Harding didn’t provide evidence from the Embassy’s visitor log? Or, “why not show CCTV? London is the most heavily surveilled place on Earth. Why not show that?” Blumenthal argues that the whole thing is simply an attempt to lay the basis for arrest and extradition of Assange. Former British diplomat and whistleblower Craig Murray points out that Harding is a mouthpiece for MI6. He also states that security at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London is very tight, and that no one is admitted without signing the visitor log, handing over passports, etc. There is absolutely no indication in the visitor logs, which Quito handed over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, of any visits by Manafort or the “Russians.”