Friday, December 16, 2016

'Clinton leaks came from disgruntled Democrats, not Russia'

As lawmakers debate the impact of Russia’s alleged interference in the recent United States presidential election, a senior figure within the organization responsible for leaking thousands of emails from Clinton campaign officials says Russia played no part in the leaks.

Ex-UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, now a confidant of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, told the Daily Mail that the assumption that foreign powers had hacked senior Clinton aides like John Podesta and Jennifer Palmieri, was false. “Neither of [the leaks] came from the Russians,” Murray said.

The leaks, he claimed, were made by someone inside the Democratic establishment who had become disillusioned with the Clinton campaign. “The source had legal access to the information. The documents came from inside leaks, not hacks.”

Murray said the leakers were disgruntled Democrats motivated by “disgust at the corruption of the Clinton Foundation and the tilting of the primary election playing field against Bernie Sanders.”

US intelligence officials last week told the Washington Post and The New York Times that they had reason to suspect the Russian government was responsible for at least some of the leaks. Yet the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency refused to brief the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, despite requests to appear by committee chairman Devin Nunes.