Cartoon by Jimmy Margulies

Donald Trump Jr communicated with WikiLeaks during final stages of election 

The Guardiann: Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of the US president, was in direct communication with WikiLeaks in the crucial final stages of the 2016 presidential election, a new leak of private correspondence from inside the Trump circle reveals.

The younger Trump exchanged direct messages with the WikiLeaks account on Twitter between 20 September and 12 October 2016. Copies of the correspondence were handed to congressional investigators by Trump Jr’s lawyers and subsequently obtained by the Atlantic magazine.

The communication occurred at a highly sensitive moment for both the Trump presidential campaign and for WikiLeaks, just weeks before election day and at the height of WikiLeaks’ publication of hacked emails belonging to senior Democratic figures at the instigation, US intelligence agencies allege, of the Russian government.

The most politically explosive communication between the two parties, according to the Atlantic, came on and after 12 October 2016.

“Hey Donald, great to see you and your dad talking about our publications,” the WikiLeaks account, @WikiLeaks, said to Trump Jr two days after his father had proclaimed at a campaign rally: “I love WikiLeaks!” >>>