Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shares a laugh with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is under investigation for his role in driving the conflict in Iraq. (Photo: Reuters)
WikiLeaks on Monday marked the yearly celebration of American independence by releasing over 1,200 private emails belonging to former secretary of state and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton pertaining to the Iraq War.
The whistleblower platform announced the new archive in a tweet, noting that the emails would be made public just two days before the UK government is set to release its official inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq, initiated by former U.S. President George W. Bush with substantial backing from then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The emails were among the trove released by the U.S. State Department in February according to The Hill, which WikiLeaks searched for any reference to the Iraq War. Many of the emails were news reports shared between Clinton and her staff about the ongoing U.S. occupation of Iraq.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said last month that the new release contains "very strong material" that could be used to prosecute the former secretary of state, though he acknowledged that would be unlikely under the current administration.
"[Attorney General] Loretta Lynch...is not going to indict Hillary Clinton," he told ITV. "It's not possible that could happen, but the FBI could push for concessions from [a] new Clinton government in exchange for its lack of indictment."
The email archive is the latest to target the presumptive Democratic nominee. Late last month, the anonymous hacker Guccifer 2.0 released a trove of internal Democratic National Committee files which, among other things, exposed the behind-the-scenes maneuvers to boost Clinton's candidacy, underscoring the critique of her being the establishment party favorite.
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