WikiLeaks rejects US intelligence report that Russia leaked material

Stockholm (dpa) - WikiLeaks on Monday rejected a US intelligence report that Russia passed on leaked information to the whistle-blowing site as part of efforts to influence the recent US elections.WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange dismissed a report published Friday by the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency as "embarrassing" and said it lacked evidence.The report was an example of how "the US intelligence services have been politicized by the Obama administration," Assange told an online news conference broadcast from the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has lived since 2012.Assange said WikiLeaks was careful to protect its sources, but said the information it published, including emails and documents from the US Democratic Party and John Podesta, head of Hillary Clinton‘s presidential campaign, were from sources that "were not a state party.""If our source were a state we would have a lot less concern in attempting to protect them," he said.Assange urged current members in charge of US government computer servers to download and protect material that otherwise risked "mass destruction" during the transition to the new administration under Donald Trump."Our philosophy is that such information is a part of history," he said.Assange also said he doubted that whistle-blowers would be safe under a Trump administration, and rejected claims that WikiLeaks had refrained from publishing leaked information from the Republican National Committee.He has been at the Ecuadorian embassy since 2012 after losing a legal battle in Britain against extradition to Sweden over a rape allegation that he denies.Assange has said he fears he could be extradited from Sweden to the US, where he is wanted in connection to WikiLeaks‘ publication of top secret diplomatic cables.