Julian Assange says he is ‘1,000% confident’ Putin was NOT behind the hacked Democratic emails which were published by WikiLeaks
WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange says he is “1,000 per cent confident” that leaked Democratic emails did not come from Russia.
The 45-year-old accused President Obama of trying to “delegitimise the Trump administration” by claiming the country hacked Hillary Clinton campaign emails during the US election.
Assange, who has been holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy four four years over a rape allegation, made the claims in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
He told the host with “1,000 per cent confidence” that the Russian government was not responsible for emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta.
The leaked emails were published by Wikileaks in the lead-up to the November 8 presidential election and were branded a deliberate attempt to derail Clinton’s campaign and boost support for Donald Trump.
Speaking about the revelations, Assange said: “We can say, we have said, repeatedly that over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party.
“Our publications had wide uptake by the American people, they’re all true. But that’s not the allegation that’s being presented by the Obama White House.
“So, why such a dramatic response? Well, the reason is obvious. They’re trying to delegitimise the Trump administration as it goes into the White House.
“They are trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate President.”
Obama last week expelled 35 Russians over the hacking allegations during the presidential election.
The US government accused the diplomats of “acting in a manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status” – a euphemism for spying – and gave them 72 hours to leave the country.
Moscow has denied any involvement with the hacking and Vladimir Putin has not ordered the expulsion of American diplomats – claiming he would not “stoop” to Obama’s level.
Trump has also brushed off the claims – branding CIA findings that Russia intervened in the election a “conspiracy theory”.
Assange has been living under political asylum in the London-based embassy since 2012 after he sought refuge from a Swedish investigation into rape allegations.
The interview tonight will be the first face-to-face TV news appearance the creator of the secret-spilling website has made.
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