LIVE WikiLeaks press conf responding to CIA report on US election. Tweet your question with #AskWL affixed! https://t.co/F7HX96WgLk
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 9, 2017
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that the so-called report by the US Intelligence Community on the alleged Russian interference in the US election is not an intelligence report, but a press release "designed for a political effect."
"The report, which was released on Friday, whose principal author is the CIA, and its current head John Brennan, is not an intelligence report. It does not have the structure of an intelligence report, it does not have the structure of a presidential daily briefing. It is frankly quite embarrassing, I think, to the reputation of the US intelligence services to be putting out something that claims to be a report like that," Assange said.
"This is a press release. It is clearly designed for political effect," he said during an audio conference broadcast by WikiLeaks.
Russian smearing has little to do w/ Wikileaks & more to do w/ de-legitimizing incoming Trump administration does this sound correct? #AskWL
— Currie Dobson (@Ventuckyspaz) 9 января 2017 г.
He also said that the report is a "political attack cannon against Trump", which is also aimed to explain why Hillary Clinton lost the US presidential election.
Assange also said that US intelligence agencies became politicized under the administration of US President Barack Obama.
@wikileaks @periscopeco On a scale of 1 to 10, how fabricated is the CIA report on the US elections? #AskWL
— Shafaat Mosvi (@shafaatmosvi) 9 января 2017 г.
"The evidentiary weight [of the report] is literally zero, there is no evidence of any kind supplied," Assange said.
You sure go-between didn't get material from Russian govt or private cyber hacking groups acting on orders by Russian govt entities? #AskWL
— Dominique vanHeerden (@dominiquecnn) 9 января 2017 г.
Assange yet again confirmed that a non-state actor is the source of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) leaks.
"We are concerned about protecting our sources. If our source was a state, we would have had much less concern about protecting it," Assange said.
The report is not even fabricated as there is no evidence in it, it contains only speculations, the Wikileaks founder said.
#AskWL why don't you explain why it would be hard for Russia to hack the votes, explain the security and how easy it would be to track them
— wikidicki (@Liberallove1) 9 января 2017 г.
Media published "false information," claiming Russia hacked the US election process, Assange said. However, voting machines are "insecure."
He also said that a young Russian female programmer sanctioned by Obama over allegedly being involved in hacking the US election, is not even mentioned in the US intelligence report, which causes doubts on its credibility. He also added that she doesn't seem to be a person who would do that.
The report states that it does not know when the DNC was hacked, Assange noted.
He said that even if some Russian hackers attacked the DNC servers among hackers from other countries, they could not be run by the Russian government.
By March 2016, nobody viewed US President-Elect Donald Trump as a potential winner of the election, including Wikileaks, Assange said.
#askwl what would you say to people who see wikileaks' recent activity as an open endorsement of trump?
— ben murphy (@benem94) 9 января 2017 г.
He said that before the election, Wikileaks counted on opinion polling stating that Hillary Clinton will most certainly win. "We became the main experts on the US State Department and… Hillary Clinton," Assange said.
"In relation to Trump, it's an interesting situation, the US population turned against the elite. When the elites stop listening to the population, the population stops listening to the elites," Assange noted. "What elites don't like is Donald Trump," he added.
Donald Trump is a "destabilizing force" in a good sense of the word, Assange said.
Do you believe whistleblowers will be safer in the upcoming admin or will they continue to be persecuted? #AskWL
— Danielle Kazemi (@DaniKazemi) 9 января 2017 г.
There are a lot of "anti-DC and anti-establishment people" in Trump's incoming administration, the Wikileaks founder said, answering a question whether he thinks whistleblowers will be safer in the upcoming admin or will they continue to be persecuted.
Clinton lost the 2016 election because of "rigging the primaries," Assange said.
@wikileaks #askwl Is there any truth to the rumour that wikileaks had access to RNC data and choose not to leak?
— Blueberrycenter (@BlueberryMiddle) 9 января 2017 г.
He also dismissed claims Wikileaks chose not to publish Republican National Committee data, while allegedly possessing it. "No, that's false, absolutely false," he said.
There were no forgeries in any Wikileaks publications, Assange emphasized, adding that Wikileaks is funded only by its readers.
#AskWL What is the most important thing we can do before Obama leaves office?
— NimbleAF (@PssstISeeYou) 9 января 2017 г.
Assange reaffirmed that Wikileaks will grant $30,000 for any information on employees in US President Obama's administration destroying documents.
Assange: Is there a future for the FOIA in the present "fake news" attack on freedom of press/speech? #AskWL
— Brian T Simmons (@BTSimmons65) 9 января 2017 г.
The Freedom of Information act is managed by government departments first of all, Assange said.
How come you guys don't tweet on international leaks anymore? It's become incredibly US-centric #askWL
— Autocorrect (@JazzPineapple) 9 января 2017 г.
Answering a question why Wikileaks is focused mostly on the US, Assange said that everyone is interested in US leaks as the country is a superpower with military bases around the world.
Russia has repeatedly denied the US allegations calling them absurd and characterizing them as an attempt to divert public opinion from revelations of corruption as well as other pressing domestic issues.
After receiving an intelligence briefing on the US Intelligence Community's report, Trump said the election outcome had not been affected. US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan also suggested that the assessment should not be used by partisans to delegitimize Trump's presidency.
