‘You guys are a f*ckin’ joke’: The internet rips WikiLeaks for whining about leaked report on Russian hacks
WikiLeaks battled with online critics after attacking U.S. officials for issuing portions of a report on Russian hacking before Donald Trump’s intelligence briefing.
The hacktivist group, which posted the emails and other data that U.S. officials believe were obtained at the direction of senior Russian officials, objected to the release of information contained in a U.S. intelligence report about the stolen documents.
The Obama admin/CIA is illegally funneling TOP SECRET//COMINT information to NBC for political reasons before PEOTUS even gets to read it.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 6, 2017
The intelligence assessment, which was presented Thursday to President Barack Obama, found that Russian officials fed the material hacked from the Democratic National Committee through third parties to WikiLeaks at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The same assessment will be presented Friday to Trump, who is scheduled to be inaugurated in two weeks.
Trump, who has rejected the consensus view of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia attempted to interfere with the election — possibly on his behalf — echoed WikiLeaks concerns about the leaked report.
I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017
Twitter users expressed astonishment that WikiLeaks — whose motto is “we open governments” — would slam the federal government for releasing closely held information.
@wikileaks You can't be serious. You're calling someone out for leaking? Do you see how absurd that is?
— Bill Shapiro (@Bill_Shapiro) January 6, 2017
Oh Man, did I mess up @wikileaks was I not suppose to "Leak Early, Leak Often" pic.twitter.com/oOG8kxUw8H
— Dusty (@DustinGiebel) January 6, 2017
@wikileaks you're against leaks now? weird.
— Sahil Lavingia (@shl) January 6, 2017
@wikileaks your entire organization is built on govt leaks. You are called Wikileaks. If you can't take it, don't dish it out
— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) January 6, 2017
An official WikiLeaks account chimed in to split rhetorical hairs, arguing the leak was actually a funnel — which is apparently unacceptable — and authorized, which is also unacceptable.
@WLTaskForce @smotus You guys at Wikileaks are a fuckin' joke. Delete your account.
— Amarchy (@amarchy) January 6, 2017
@nnimrodd Not a leak. It is clearly authorized by the executive and anonymity used to provide political and legal cover.
— WikiLeaks Task Force (@WLTaskForce) January 6, 2017
@nnimrodd You thought wrong.
— WikiLeaks Task Force (@WLTaskForce) January 6, 2017