Trump, Wikileaks, the #DNC email hack, and— Russia? Xeni on KCRW's 'Press Play'

[ LISTEN ] ONE day before the Democratic National Convention opened, Wikileaks released a trove of hacked DNC emails that became a viral political firestorm involving odd bedfellows Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin–and Guccifer 2.0, and Julian Assange.

Did Russia hack the DNC? If so, why? And why is Wikileaks publishing (or in the case of Turkey, amplifying) leaks that haven't been redacted to remove personal information like home addresses and credit card numbers?

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange says there are many more hacked emails from the DNC on the way. The previous dump contained hacked emails that showed DNC bias for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, and led to DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz saying she'll step down. But now Wikileaks is facing criticism from some of the same people who once supported its mission–including Edward Snowden.

I'm on KCRW with 'Press Play' host Madeleine Brand, talking about this and literal dumpster fires, in the time of the raging trash fires that are the 2016 US presidential elections.