Time magazine senior national correspondent Michael Grunwald sent out a controversial tweet Saturday evening that advocated for a drone missile strike against Wikileaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange.
Here's the tweet, which has been deleted:
The statement immediately received a flurry of responses. Grunwald later deleted the tweet and apologized.
Politico deputy editor Blake Hounshell:
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) August 17, 2013
Kade Ellis of Privacy SOS:
.@MikeGrunwald You want Julian Assange to be murdered?
— kade (@onekade) August 17, 2013
Guardian editor James Ball:
Here's the idiotic and frankly disturbing since-deleted tweet from TIME correspondent @MikeGrunwald: pic.twitter.com/xJNMrugVc0
— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) August 18, 2013
GlobalPost Erin Cunningham:
.@MikeGrunwald deletes tweet on Assange drone strike so he doesn't give his supporters a "safe persecution complex" https://t.co/baG87B2pY3
— Erin Cunningham (@erinmcunningham) August 18, 2013
Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian:
And @MikeGrunwald didn't delete the tweet because he thinks it's wrong, but because it helps Assange supporters https://t.co/skTc6tsPWn
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 18, 2013
Here's the apology:
It was a dumb tweet. I'm sorry. I deserve the backlash. (Maybe not the anti-Semitic stuff but otherwise I asked for it.)
— Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) August 18, 2013
Grunwald may have been discussing Assange because the 42-year-old Australian citizen recently told a Google Hangout that libertarianism is the only useful American political philosophy.
“The libertarian aspect of the Republican Party is presently the only useful political voice really in the U.S. Congress,” Assange, who is publisher and facilitator of leaked information, said.
Assange, who is currently residing in Ecuador's London embassy, was also instrumental in NSA whistleblower and leaker Edward Snowden flying to Russia.
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