WikiLeaks is offering $100,000 for a copy of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the source of much controversy in recent months.
The whistleblower website
made the announcement on Tuesday, saying it is calling for a "bounty" on the trade treaty.
The website has leaked three chapters of the secret deal over the past two years, but now it's looking for a copy of the full text being negotiated by the Obama administration as the White House tries to position the U.S. economy with other Pacific rim nations in the 12-country pact.
"The remaining 26 chapters of the deal are closely held by negotiators and the big corporations that have been given privileged access," the announcement reads. "Today, WikiLeaks is taking steps to bring about the public's rightful access to the missing chapters of this monster trade pact."
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said it's time to make details of the deal public before it's ratified.
"The transparency clock has run out on the TPP. No more secrecy. No more excuses. Let's open the TPP once and for all," Assange said.
Called the TPP for short, the deal has created an unusual situation in Washington.
Republicans are aligning themselves with the president on the deal, while
Democrats are largely opposed to this and other trade agreements because they say American jobs will be lost.
The public is mostly in the dark about the deal, which WikiLeaks said has less-than-good intentions.
"The treaty aims to create a new international legal regime that will allow transnational corporations to bypass domestic courts, evade environmental protections, police the Internet on behalf of the content industry, limit the availability of affordable generic medicines, and drastically curtail each country's legislative sovereignty," the website's announcement reads.
One strong critic of the TPP is Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat who some were calling to join the 2016 race for president. Obama, however, has called Warren's arguments against the agreement "wrong."
"I love Elizabeth. We're allies on a whole host of issues. But she's wrong on this,"
Obama said in April.
"I would not be doing this trade deal if I did not think it was good for the middle class. And when you hear folks make a lot of suggestions about how bad this trade deal is, when you dig into the facts, they are wrong."
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