Guardian: Manafort held secret talks with Assange
■ The claim
Citing unnamed sources, The Guardian (Luke Harding and Dan Collyns) reported that Paul Manafort visited Julian Assange at Ecuador's London embassy in 2013, 2015 and around March 2016, months before WikiLeaks released the Democratic emails.
■ What actually happened
Manafort, Assange's lawyers and WikiLeaks all denied that any meeting took place, and no other outlet independently confirmed the visits. The Mueller report, which covers WikiLeaks and Manafort in detail, says nothing about any Manafort–Assange meeting. Critics said the Guardian later softened some wording; the paper has not retracted the story. Whether the meetings happened remains unproven.
■ The proof
A text search of the Mueller report finds no account of a Manafort–Assange meeting. Contemporary coverage notes that no other outlet confirmed the story and that Manafort's 2016 passports show no UK entry.
■ Original reporting
- The Guardian: 'Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy, sources say'https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/27/manafort-held-secret-talks-with-assange-in-ecuadorian-embassy
■ Corrections, findings & records
- NPR: Assange, Manafort deny report they methttps://www.npr.org/2018/11/27/671252622/assange-manafort-deny-report-they-met-the-white-house-declined-to-address-it
- CJR: on the Guardian scoop and the doubts about ithttps://www.cjr.org/?p=77151
- Washington Times: Mueller didn't pursue the claim; passports show no UK entryhttps://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/apr/2/robert-mueller-dismissed-paul-manafort-wikileaks-c/
- Daily Caller: Mueller report makes no mention of the visitshttps://dailycaller.com/2019/04/19/mueller-report-anonymous-stories/
- Mueller report (justice.gov)https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/dl
■ Wayback Machine copies
Stories sometimes get edited after publication. These links open the Internet Archive's earliest snapshot of each original.
- Archive copy: The Guardian: 'Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy, sources say'https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/27/manafort-held-secret-talks-with-assange-in-ecuadorian-embassy
■ Grade
UNPROVEN: Reported as established fact but never corroborated. Not proven false, either. How we grade →