--- title: Julian Assange: Russia Didn't Hack DNC Emails description: In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says Russia was not behind the hacked DNC emails. canonical: https://time.com/4620806/julian-assange-russia-hack-fox-hannity/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-03T17:30:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:31:27.092Z article:section: Politics og:title: Julian Assange Is 1,000% Sure Russia Didn't Hack DNC Emails og:description: "Our source is not the Russian government" og:url: https://time.com/4620806/julian-assange-russia-hack-fox-hannity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0688893f9ef7015/6988b446524fc0426bdfa9c2/julian-assange-russia-wikileaks.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: julian-assange-russia-wikileaks og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Julian Assange Is 1,000% Sure Russia Didn't Hack DNC Emails twitter:description: "Our source is not the Russian government" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0688893f9ef7015/6988b446524fc0426bdfa9c2/julian-assange-russia-wikileaks.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Julian Assange Says He's 1,000% Sure Russia Didn't Hack the DNC's Emails by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 3, 2017 5:30 PM UTC  Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy where he continues to seek asylum following an extradition request from Sweden in 2012, on Feb. 5, 2016 in London. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy where he continues to seek asylum following an extradition request from Sweden in 2012, on Feb. 5, 2016 in London.Carl Court—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 3, 2017 5:30 PM UTC WikiLeaks founder [Julian Assange](http://time.com/4567695/julian-assange-questioned-by-sweden-ecuador-embassy-london/) said Russia was not behind the [hacked emails](http://time.com/4600177/election-hack-russia-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/) from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta. In an [interview with Fox News](http://video.foxnews.com/v/5268819964001/?#sp=show-clips/primetime) set to air Tuesday, Assange told Sean Hannity that Russia was not the source of the email hack, contradicting [reports](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/09/press-briefing-principal-deputy-press-secretary-eric-schultz-12916) from the intelligence community that the Russian government purposely interfered with the presidential election. Asked whether he could tell the American people “1,000 percent” that the emails did not come from Russia, Assange confirmed his stance. “We can say, we have said, repeatedly over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party,” he said. President Obama announced [sanctions against Russia](http://time.com/4619816/vladimir-putin-russia-hacking-sanctions/?xid=homepage) and the expulsion of Russian diplomats on Thursday in retaliation for the alleged hacks. During the interview, Assange added that he believes the Obama administration is trying to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency. “They’re trying to delegitimize the Trump administration as it goes into the White House,” he said. “They are trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate President.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4620806/julian-assange-russia-hack-fox-hannity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4620806/julian-assange-russia-hack-fox-hannity/"},"headline":"Julian Assange Says He's 1,000% Sure Russia Didn't Hack the DNC's Emails","datePublished":"2017-01-03T17:30:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:31:27.092Z","description":"\"Our source is not the Russian government\"","url":"https://time.com/4620806/julian-assange-russia-hack-fox-hannity/","keywords":["onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0688893f9ef7015/6988b446524fc0426bdfa9c2/julian-assange-russia-wikileaks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0688893f9ef7015/6988b446524fc0426bdfa9c2/julian-assange-russia-wikileaks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"julian-assange-russia-wikileaks","caption":"Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy where he continues to seek asylum following an extradition request from Sweden in 2012, on Feb. 5, 2016 in London.","creditText":"Carl Court—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4620806/julian-assange-russia-hack-fox-hannity/","name":"Julian Assange Says He's 1,000% Sure Russia Didn't Hack the DNC's Emails"}}]}] ```