Max Blumenthal discusses the outrageous treatment of Julian Assange during his time at the Ecuadorian embassy in London over the last few years, and since his arrest last year. Blumenthal has reported on the extensive spying Assange was subjected to at the embassy, and on the scandalous connection between the Sheldon Adelson-backed security firm, UC Global, and an espionage campaign overseen by the CIA that attempted to illegally gather information on Assange, and possibly even kidnap him from the embassy. UC Global CEO David Morales has since been charged with leading this illicit spy operation. Scott and Blumenthal also discuss the devastating aftermath of the “Russiagate” narrative, which has seen President Trump move toward a tougher stance on Russia, withdrawing from several nuclear treaties and supporting the expansion of U.S. and UN forces right up to Russia’s border. The mainstream media in America has been almost totally silent on both their role in pushing the phony “Russiagate” hoax, and also on the dangerous precedent of Assange’s persecution.

Discussed on the show:

“‘The American friends’: New court files expose Sheldon Adelson’s security team in US spy operation against Julian Assange” (The Grayzone)

Collateral Murder

The State Department Cables

“Lying not to make America ‘great again’” (CGTN)

Vault7

“How Comey intervened to kill WikiLeaks’ immunity deal” (The Hill)

“Trump to Withdraw U.S. From ‘Open Skies’ Treaty” (The New York Times)

Killing Gaza

Director and writer of “Killing Gaza,” Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project and the author Goliath, Republican Gomorrah, and The 51 Day War. Follow Max on Twitter @MaxBlumenthal.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

The following is an automatically generated transcript.

Show Transcript

Scott Horton 0:10

All right, shall welcome it's Scott Horton Show. I am the director of the Libertarian Institute editorial director of antiwar.com, author of the book Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan. And I've recorded more than 5000 interviews going back to 2003, all of which are available at ScottHorton.org. You can also sign up to the podcast feed full archive is also available at youtube.com/ScottHortonShow.

All right, you guys introducing max Blumenthal. He is the author of the book, Goliath, and also the 51 Day War. And his latest book is the management of Savitri, a great retelling of the War on Terrorism there. And of course, he runs the gray zone project. Where he co hosts the podcast, moderate rebels, and where he writes articles including this important one, the American friends, new court files expose Sheldon Adelson security team in US spy operation against Julian Assange. Welcome back to the show. How you doing Max?

Max Blumenthal 1:23

Good, good to be back.

Scott Horton 1:25

Great. Great to have here. So let's see, two or three months ago, we talked about this with Kelly flay hosts from the American Conservative magazine about this connection to Sheldon Adelson, which is very interesting, and which I'm not sure I completely understand. But first of all, can you give us the background here, starting with Assange holed up in the embassy and this security company that was providing supposedly security for the embassy, and then how that all change here Understand it right? The guy that runs that company just saw an opportunity to go ahead and prostitute himself to the CIA. Is that it?