WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is drawing on revelations by a former Democratic Party chairperson about Hillary Clinton’s hold on the party to poke fun at the former presidential candidate.
During last year’s US presidential race, the whistleblowing organization released thousands of Clinton campaign emails, including messages from party elites which showed their bias towards her as a candidate and against Bernie Sanders.
The former US secretary of state responded by claiming WikiLeaks was a “subsidiary of Russian intelligence.” Clinton also alleged that Assange and WikiLeaks were partly responsible for her failure to reach the White House as commander-in-chief.
READ MORE: Brazile faces backlash after memo shows Clinton paid DNC for staffing, policy control
Now Assange is drawing on revelations by a former Clinton ally and Democratic National Committee chair to underscore reports of Clinton’s efforts to strongarm the party, tweeting a meme depicting Clinton as Jack Nicholson’s crazed character in the 1980 horror film ‘The Shining.’
The meme relates to Donna Brazile, a former Democratic National Committee chair, who last week revealed that the Hillary for America (HFA) campaign effectively dug the DNC out of a financial hole in exchange for control over the party’s finances, key appointments and strategy.
Assange’s tweet shows Clinton breaking down a door using an axe, while shouting, “Donna, I just want to talk.”
Details of the deal made between the HFA and the DNC in a Joint Fund-Raising Agreement are contained in a memo sent by Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook to the then-DNC CEO Amy Dacey. It suggests that the Democratic nomination was tipped in Clinton’s favor as early as August 2015.
“The agreement… specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff,” an excerpt from Brazile’s new book, published by Politico, read.
Perhaps pre-empting a backlash, the memo stated that funds would be used towards the general election and not the primaries. “Further we understand you may enter into similar agreements with other candidates,” it said.
READ MORE: Run DNC: Sanders accuses Clinton of misappropriating Democratic donations
The team for Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders previously slammed the agreement, with the Vermont senator’s campaign manager Jeff Weaver saying it is “unprecedented for the DNC to allow a joint committee to be exploited to the benefit of one candidate in the midst of a contested nominating contest.”
Hillary Clinton has yet to react to Brazile’s comments.
