SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
WikiLeaks Cancels 'October Surprise' Announcement Over Security Concerns
Founder Julian Assange still expected to give a speech on Tuesday morning to coincide with organization's 10-year anniversary
Oct 03, 2016
WikiLeaks has canceled an announcement set for this week, citing security concerns.
The organization's founder, Julian Assange was slated to make a statement on Tuesday that was widely expected to regard Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. MSNBC's Jesse Rodriguez tweeted on Friday, "Due to security concerns at the Ecuadorian Embassy, Julian Assange's balcony announcement on Tues has been cancelled, per @wikileaks."
The cancellation of the so-called "October Surprise" comes after months of activity for WikiLeaks, which spent the summer releasing caches of about 20,000 private emails from Democratic National Committee (DNC) accounts, which showed the committee planning how to sabotage Clinton's then-opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The revelations led to the ouster of establishment DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Last month, Assange promised that more emails from the DNC trove would be published soon. He is still expected to give a speech on Tuesday morning via video link at a press conference in Berlin, to coincide with WikiLeaks' 10th anniversary.
Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, fearing extradition to the U.S.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
WikiLeaks has canceled an announcement set for this week, citing security concerns.
The organization's founder, Julian Assange was slated to make a statement on Tuesday that was widely expected to regard Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. MSNBC's Jesse Rodriguez tweeted on Friday, "Due to security concerns at the Ecuadorian Embassy, Julian Assange's balcony announcement on Tues has been cancelled, per @wikileaks."
The cancellation of the so-called "October Surprise" comes after months of activity for WikiLeaks, which spent the summer releasing caches of about 20,000 private emails from Democratic National Committee (DNC) accounts, which showed the committee planning how to sabotage Clinton's then-opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The revelations led to the ouster of establishment DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Last month, Assange promised that more emails from the DNC trove would be published soon. He is still expected to give a speech on Tuesday morning via video link at a press conference in Berlin, to coincide with WikiLeaks' 10th anniversary.
Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, fearing extradition to the U.S.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
WikiLeaks has canceled an announcement set for this week, citing security concerns.
The organization's founder, Julian Assange was slated to make a statement on Tuesday that was widely expected to regard Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. MSNBC's Jesse Rodriguez tweeted on Friday, "Due to security concerns at the Ecuadorian Embassy, Julian Assange's balcony announcement on Tues has been cancelled, per @wikileaks."
The cancellation of the so-called "October Surprise" comes after months of activity for WikiLeaks, which spent the summer releasing caches of about 20,000 private emails from Democratic National Committee (DNC) accounts, which showed the committee planning how to sabotage Clinton's then-opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The revelations led to the ouster of establishment DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Last month, Assange promised that more emails from the DNC trove would be published soon. He is still expected to give a speech on Tuesday morning via video link at a press conference in Berlin, to coincide with WikiLeaks' 10th anniversary.
Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, fearing extradition to the U.S.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.