U.S. officials find growing evidence of connection between Russia and WikiLeaks
There is mounting evidence that the Russian government is supplying WikiLeaks with hacked emails belonging to Democratic Party officials, namely those of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, CNN reported, citing officials familiar with the investigation.
The way in which the emails are leaked "suggest Moscow is at least providing the information or is possibly directly responsible for the leaks," one U.S. official said.
U.S. intelligence agencies are continuing their investigation into the cyber-attacks against the Democratic Party that happened earlier this year, and while they are confident that the Russian government is involved in WikiLeaks’ release of information, the exact connection between the whistle-blowing organization and Moscow has not yet been determined.
Investigators believe that, at the very least, Russia is delivering the hacked emails to WikiLeaks, which has been releasing batches of emails every day, some of which are damning to Hillary Clinton.
According to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, "The kinds of disclosures that we've seen, including at WikiLeaks, of stolen e-mails from people who play an important role in our political process is consistent with Russian- directed efforts.”
Russia has denied the allegations. "If they decided to do something, let them do it," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told CNN. "But to say that Russia is interfering in the United States domestic matters is ridiculous."
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has also denied accusations that he is a political agent of Russia.
Last week, U.S. intelligence agencies formally accused Russia of being behind the cyber-attacks against the Democratic Party earlier this year.