President Obama is trying to "delegitimize" Donald Trump's presidency, says WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
WikiLeaks founder: Obama trying to 'delegitimize' Trump presidency
President Obama is trying to "delegitimize" Donald Trump's presidency, says WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Speaking with Fox News host Sean Hannity at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Assange accused Obama of having a dramatic response to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails. Obama is "trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate president," Assange said, according to a partial transcript of an interview set to air Tuesday night.
Assange claimed Obama has not been straightforward with Americans about Russia's interference in the election and WikiLeaks' involvement in the leaks.
"He doesn't say that WikiLeaks obtained its information from Russia, worked with Russia," Assange said. "He doesn't say — from the statements that I have read — that Russia was trying to influence the election for Donald Trump."
In mid-December, Obama vowed retaliation against Russia over its interference in the U.S. presidential election, but stopped short of endorsing the CIA's conclusion that the country's meddling was aimed at electing Trump.
The Obama administration announced last week sanctions and expelled dozens of Russian diplomats from the U.S. in response to the cyberattacks.
But Assange adamantly denied that Podesta's hacked emails, which WikiLeaks trickled out in the final weeks of the election, came from Russia.
"Our source is not a state party," he said. "But if we look at our most recent statement from the U.S. government, which is on the 29 of December, OK, we had five different branches of government, Treasury, DHS, FBI, White House presenting their accusations to underpin Obama's throwing out 29 Russian diplomats. What was missing from all of those statements? The word WikiLeaks. It's very strange."
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