Sarah Palin apologizes to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who she says 'finally opened people's eyes'

pulse

January 4, 2017 3:29 PM

Sarah Palin apologized to Julian Assange on Wednesday after the WikiLeaks founder gave an interview to Fox News about hacked emails from the Democratic Party that his website released.

Sarah Palin at a rally endorsing Donald Trump for president in Ames, Iowa.

"To Julian Assange: I apologize," Palin wrote on Facebook. "Please watch Sean Hannity's interview with Julian Assange."

Palin previously feuded with Assange after WikiLeaks posted data hacked from Palin's private email account when she was the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 2008. Two years later she called Assange "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands" after WikiLeaks published leaked diplomatic cables. Palin also said the site should be shut down permanently.

But she has changed her tune in light of WikiLeaks publishing hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in the months leading up to the presidential election.

"Exposing the truth re: the Left having been oh-so-guilty of atrocious actions and attitudes of which they've falsely accused others," she wrote in the post. "The media collusion that hid what many on the Left have been supporting is shocking. This important information that finally opened people's eyes to democrat candidates and operatives would not have been exposed were it not for Julian Assange."

She also apologized for her previous condemnation of Assange after WikiLeaks posted her hacked emails.

"I apologize for condemning Assange when he published my infamous (and proven noncontroversial, relatively boring) emails years ago," she wrote.

Palin continued: "As I said at the time of being targeted and my subsequent condemnation, though, the line must be drawn before our troops or innocent lives deserving protection would be put at risk as a result of published emails."

Palin then implored people to see the movie "Snowden," about former CIA contractor Edward Snowden who leaked classified information about the National Security Agency. She called the movie "enlightening."

Assange sat down with Fox News in an interview released this week to talk about the election hacks. US officials have blamed Russia for hacking Democratic Party organizations and leaking the emails in an effort to help Donald Trump be elected president. Trump has been reluctant to pin the blame for the hacks on Russia, and Assange has said the emails didn't come from a Russian source, though his reliability has been questioned. Former UN ambassador John Bolton, for instance, told Fox News on Tuesday that he wouldn't trust Assange.

pulse