receive death threats. nbc s peter alexander has the details. reporter: it s a secret cache of uncensored files that s been described as a poison bill. julian assange is threatening to unleash the archive of documents if his website is shut down or he s arrested. assange told online readers of a british newspaper that more than 100,000 people worldwide have already downloaded the heavily encrypted file. if something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically, he wrote. the huge array of files is believed to include documents on bp, bank of america, and guantanamo bay. with one reportedly called insurance, locked by a 256-digit code that only assange knows. it s a ticking time bomb with a remote fuse. so, this bomb can go off the second that they release the key. and the key will spread around the internet in a matter of seconds. reporter: assange s lawyer defended a move on the bbc arguing wikileaks has been the target of cyber attacks and
threatening to release another massive pile of documents. this time an insurance file if someone tries to shut them down. is the white house worried about this? and joins us from washington, tell us about the so-called poison bill that julian assange plans to release? well, alisyn, the founder of wikileaks reportedly circulating the secret stash of heavily encrypted files for month. one of the largest of the known as the insurance file. the idea if he he gets into legal trouble or if the website is shut down, he s fighting back by making the documents public. julian assange told the british paper the sunday times we have a long period of time distributed encrypted backups of material we have yet to release, all we have to do is release the password to that material and it is instantly available. and a release of quarter million embassy cables, according to the times, his so-called insurance file has already been downloaded by
what was the poison bill? the poison pill? i think the poison pill was not allowing any republican amendments on it. he says it s because i believe he doesn t want republicans screwing with some of the other provisions. we think however, that senator reid was under a lot of pressure to bring this bill up. he brought it up, but so that it would fail and republicans would be able to be blamed. who was pushing to bring it up? our community was. we put a lot of pressure on him. did a lot of lobbying, a lot of organization. i think it was under a lot of other pressure from other organizations as well, but also significant pressure from those in his own party to not bring it up before the midterm elections. let me go to josh for a political assessment. a complete analysis. did he bring this up just to get votes to save his seat in nevada?
first question, the big one. why did it go down? because senator reid essentially made it unpalatable for republicans. what was the poison bill? the poison pill? i think the poison pill was not allowing any republican amendments on it. he says it s because i believe he doesn t want republicans screwing with some of the other provisions. we think however, that senator reid was under a lot of pressure to bring this bill up. he brought it up, but so that it would fail and republicans would be able to be blamed. who was pushing to bring it up? our community was. we put a lot of pressure on him. did a lot of lobbying, a lot of organization. i think it was under a lot of other pressure from other organizations as well, but also significant pressure from those in his own party to not bring it up before the midterm elections. let me go to josh for a political assessment. a complete analysis. did he bring this up just to get votes to save his seat in