WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says the Obama administration is destroying public records in the final days in office.
Just days ago, Assange offered a $30,000 reward to any administration employee who would publicly expose any official disposing of information.
During a Periscope press conference on Monday, Assange said the most important thing for Americans to do is to ensure Obama is not destroying those records.
“Past administrations of both Republican and Democratic players have engaged in mass destruction of records as they left office,” Assange said in response to a question.
“We are told that destruction of records is occurring now in different parts of the Obama administration in different departments or agencies.
“That’s what happens when an administration leaves office,” Assange said.
“Our philosophy is that such information is a part of history. It belongs, legally and philosophically, to the American people and more broadly, insofar as the United States interacts with the world, it belongs to the people of the world.
“It is part of human history and the destruction of major archives of human history, frankly, should be formally listed as a crime against humanity because those archives belong to humanity,” he said.
He said those records are what we use to understand the world around us and to form new observations.
“To destroy them is absolutely and egregious act. One understands the political motivation for it,” Assange contended, adding it is done to “eliminate small political risks by destroying major elements of history.”
Reminding listeners of the $30,000 reward, Assange said, “Our request to system administrators in the Obama administration goes for other administrations around the world as well, is take the data now.
“Just take it now. Keep it under your bed, or with your mother and then you can give that to Wikileaks or other journalists at your leisure,” he said.
“Get hold of that history and protect it,” Assange said, “because that is something that belongs to humanity and does not belong to a political party.”
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