Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange confirmed Wednesday, Dec. 16th, that the source that handed over Clinton campaign chair Jon Podesta’s emails was not the Russian government. Assange made the remarks in an interview with Fox News host and radio host Sean Hannity.
The CIA had concluded earlier that Russia hacked both the Republican and Democratic Party National Committees, but only released DNC information, in order to influence the election in favor of then-candidate Donald Trump. The CIA’s position was endorsed by President Obama, who said in a press conference today: “based on uniform intelligence assessments the Russians were involved in hacking the DNC.” The president has also threatened retaliation against Russia.
Yet the CIA has presented no public evidence to support the findings. The Kremlin denies the accusations, as do Assange and President-elect Trump, who called the claims “ridiculous.” The office of the Director of National Intelligence, the organization that oversees all 17 US intelligence agencies, also released a statement saying they could not confirm Russia’s intent to interfere with the election.
The emails did cause a media storm during the election. Revelations that Hillary Clinton had taken different public and private policy decisions, admitted that Saudi Arabia, a US ally, was funding ISIS, and used racially offensive language such as “Taco-Bowl outreach” in relation to Latino voters dented her reputation.
How did Wikileaks Acquire the Emails?
Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, who is now a Wikileaks operative, said in an interview with the Daily Mail that he had picked up the documents in Washington D.C. from whistleblowers who had “legal access to the information.” Murray went on to say “the documents came from inside leaks, not hacks.”
When questioned by Sean Hannity about Craig Murray, Julian Assange stated: “He is a friend of mine, he is not authorized to speak on behalf of Wikileaks,” and wouldn’t elaborate further. Wikileaks is known for never disclosing any information about its sources. However Assange did confirm that the source was “not a state party.”
In an interview on Dutch television, Assange gave comment about Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, who was murdered in Washington D.C. on July 8th. Nothing was stolen from Rich on the night of his murder, nothing was left at the scene either, which has led many to speculate it was a professional hit.
“Our sources, ah, take risks, and they, they become concerned to see things occurring like that,” Assange stated in the interview. Some have interpreted these words to mean that either Rich was the source of the emails, or that Assange’s Wikileaks informants took similar life-threatening risks to reveal the information.
(NTD Television)
