It looks like Ecuador have also just published a press release about cutting his internet connection that's perfectly timed to distract from this too. So Clinton's in no way losing out here. She benefits from people believing that Assange is a pedo and no-one hears about part where it's an incompetent frameup. The taint from this will stick to anything Assange says about her in future.
There's no reason to do a dumb attempt at stinging a has-been like Assange. Literally all it could do is hurt her (if it backfired and people took Assange seriously).
http://election.princeton.edu/todays-electoral-vote-histogra...
Hanlon's Razor says that if it looks like some dumb idiot ("small business owner") who thought he could hire Assange for his TV commercial and then got his jimmies rustled that Assange said no then it probably is that instead of an international conspiracy. But even if we're moving into conspiracy territory, Clinton doesn't have the motive here.
Just because a few Clinton supporters on Twitter who really don't like Assange think the allegation is worth crowing about and the Daily Kos has no journalistic standards and will print anything if it's a scoop doesn't mean Clinton is anything but a little worse off if this news cycle is about Assange.
If there's one person that stands to gain most from a reported attempt at a hatchet job on Assange that's far too silly to have any basis in truth, it's probably a person who would really, really like you to (i) visit Wikileaks.com, preferably before November 9th (ii) not believe a word of all these - actually quite possibly not true - rumours floating around about Russians being prime movers behind Wikileaks.com (iii) not think too much about that interview he just postponed again because obviously allegations of sexual impropriety against Julian Assange are just part of a fiendishly stupid conspiracy.
Funnily enough in the last couple of weeks this person has also had his internet cut by a state actor... wait for next round of stories.... not the state actor you think... wait for next round of stories.... just kidding, it was American influence all along, and had to cancel a widely publicised balcony announcement because of apparently unanticipated security concerns.
(I can actually think of a second person that might benefit from people visiting Wikileaks before November 9th and people tending to suspect that all allegations of sexual impropriety should be treated as politically motivated until proven otherwise, but I think Ockham's razor and his campaign team's preference for blunter instruments rules that one out...)