Why Would The Freedom of the Press Foundation Turn On It’s Own Founder?

In a recent change of support by the board of directors at the Freedom of Press Foundation they voted unanimously to drop Wikileaks and Julian Assange from their donations. This is an unusual move as Julian Assange founded the project in 2010 in response to the banking blockade of the US government. FPF is a non-profit organization Their reasoning makes little to no sense. Director of the Foundation, Trevor Timm stated,“FPF’s board unanimously found — upon review of the available evidence — that the financial blockade by the major payment processors is no longer in effect, and as such, we will soon cease processing donations on behalf of WikiLeaks readers.”

Unfortunately, there is no truth to this statement. Their first amendment rights to free press and free speech have been under fire since the beginning and are more so now with the DoJ seeking to press charges against this publication and editor.

Julian Assange’s response to the above statement: “The financial censorship of WikiLeaks is ongoing in various ways as is our litigation in response.”

On top of their dropping support for Wikileaks and it’s editor, Micah F Lee made the following statement on his Twitter account:

This is not just misinformation but is slander and also based solely on his opinion not facts. This is makes FPF’s credibility questionable and is very unprofessional and only adds more bad light to a foundation who claims to support the First Amendment rights. Their mission statement is badly sabotaged because of the statements of Micah who is a founder and board member. (“Our Mission. Freedom of the Press Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to helping support and defend public-interest journalism focused on exposing mismanagement, corruption, and law-breaking in government.” )

Edward Snowden who leaked files that were classified to Glenn Greenwald, another board member, is also President of the Foundation presently. Julian and Wikileaks risked their lives, and Assange’s residence at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in order to obtain his asylum in Russia. There has been no response from liberal-leaning Snowden on this decision. Has he forgotten the aid he received? Or is he just so involved in the FPF’s new project “Haven” to realize what has just taken place by his vote? His own statement was “Wikileaks is the only media organization willing to help and protect me.” How far he has gone from the days of seeking support. Has he turned his back on the ones who saved him from prison in return to come back to the US?

Then there is Laura Poitras who is also on the board. Her documentary “Risk” followed Assange for many years. Poitras went back and edited her documentary to smear the editor. During the filming of “Risk”, Assange allowed her to film personal parts of his life never seen by the public, she would have had to become close to Julian in order to do so. She also produced award winning “Citizen Four” about Edward Snowden. She also refuses to comment on their decision.

What about Glenn Greenwald who is a journalist himself and has reported on Wikileaks in support and also released the leaks from Edward Snowden. Where does he really stand now?

Could their disenchantment also be caused by the fact that Wikileaks leaked documents on Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton who they support as they are all left leaning? Do they blame him for her failed candidacy for President? John Cusack who has repeatedly stated his dislike for current President Trump is also on the board. His dislike for supporters of Trump is evident in his blockade of anyone who disagrees with his opinion.

All the members of FPF’s board have certain investments in Wikileaks as a whole that would benefit them to go turncoat in the case that the government ever chose to go after them. Did FPF act on political pressure from 3 US Intel agencies as referenced in the “Wikileaks Threat” a power point you can see here ( Wikileaks Threat )? The 3 agencies are the NSA, the FBI and the CIA, as well as the DoJ and they, are seeking to destroy Wikileaks and it’s founder. By putting pressure on organizations such as FPF and other Wikileaks support, they hope to stop all donations to the agency. Wikileaks relies completely on donations and volunteers. It does not have advertisers to help support them. They rely on the assistance of followers. By putting an organization on notice like Freedom of the Press, they attempt to grind all contributions to a stop.

We can only assume that the Freedom of Press Foundation has turned on its founder due to reason unknown as presently no one other than Micah F Lee has commented on questions pertaining to the decision.