WikiLeaks said it would hold a press conference this morning in response to the U.S. intelligence report published last week which said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacks related to the U.S. 2016 election race in an effort to help President-elect Donald Trump win, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES reports.
The declassified assessment by the NSA, CIA and FBI published Friday said Russian hackers relayed the information to WikiLeaks which then published the emails.
“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary [Hillary] Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” the agencies wrote in the long-awaited report.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has consistently denied receiving any information from the Russians. In an interview with Fox News last week, he once again denied the allegations.
“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,” Assange said, adding that President Barack Obama was “acting like a lawyer” with the claims. Read more at INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES.
