Wikileaks asked Donald Trump Jr. to get his father to nudge Australia to nominate Julian Assange as US ambassador.

The revelation came about when The Atlantic published Twitter direct messages between Wikileaks and Trump Jr.



Wikileaks asked Donald Trump Jr. to get his father, then-President-elect Donald Trump, to suggest that Australia nominate Julian Assange as its US ambassador, The Atlantic reported Monday as a part of an expose on the Twitter direct messages sent between Wikileaks and Trump Jr.

On December 16, Wikileaks wrote to Trump Jr. that encouraging his father to do so would "be real easy and helpful." Assange, the Wikileaks founder, has spent years inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition on various charges. Those charges included sexual assault until earlier this year, when a Swedish investigation was dropped.

"Hi Don. Hope you're doing well!" Wikileaks wrote to Trump Jr. "In relation to Mr. Assange: Obama/Clinton placed pressure on Sweden, UK and Australia (his home country) to illicitly go after Mr. Assange. It would be real easy and helpful for your dad to suggest that Australia appoint Assange ambassador to [Washington,] DC."

Wikileaks even crafted a Trump-esque message for the soon-to-be president to read.

"'That’s a real smart tough guy and the most famous australian [sic] you have!' or something similar," Wikileaks wrote. "They won’t do it but it will send the right signals to Australia, UK + Sweden to start following the law and stop bending it to ingratiate themselves with the Clintons."

Trump Jr. did not answer the messages, according to the report.

That request from Wikileaks was one of a few that the organization sent Trump Jr.'s way. While he did not respond to the above request, Trump Jr. did respond to a couple of messages and appeared to act on others that he did not respond to.

Wikileaks released thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta. US intelligence agencies concluded that Russian hackers were responsible for the theft of both the DNC's and Podesta's emails.