Julian Assange has issued a savage rebuke to Newsweek journalist Michael Hayden for being duped by a fake Twitter account impersonating the Wikileaks founder.

Hayden had responded to a tweet supporting US president Donald Trump from Assange impersonator @TheRealJulian. The fake account wrote: “Keep doing what you’re doing Mr. President and know that the entire world is behind you!”

Despite the nature of the comment being completely out of character, Hayden took it at face value and he accused the Australian of being “one of those MAGA randos that rushes into Trump’s replies to kiss up”.

Assange responded with a filleting analysis of Hayden’s journalistic professionalism and accused him of amplifying a “black PR operation” against him.

I am sure that I could have predicted that a Newsweek "journalist" such as @MichaelEHayden would be unprofessional, not fact check and amplify a black PR operation against a political refugee the CIA has vowed to "take down".https://t.co/0ct4465M2xpic.twitter.com/UswbM7zjv8 — Julian Assange ⌛ (@JulianAssange) February 10, 2018

He also included a link to a Medium blog written by journalist Caitlin Johnstone which catalogues a range of fake Assange Twitter accounts and alleges that Twitter is “knowingly putting its foot on the brakes of Assange’s Twitter presence”.

The Newsweek journalist quickly deleted the tweet. He told RT.com that Twitter should verify Assange.

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