--- title: WikiLeaks: Julian Assange Dismisses Russia Hacking Report description: Julian Assange dismissed the U.S. intelligence community's report on Russia's hacking in the 2016 presidential election as a "press release" canonical: https://time.com/4628558/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia-election-hack-donald-trump/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-09T15:26:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:14.103Z article:section: Politics og:title: Julian Assange Dismissed the Russia Hacking Report as a 'Press Release' og:description: Julian Assange dismissed the U.S. intelligence community's report on Russia's hacking in the 2016 presidential election as a "press release" og:url: https://time.com/4628558/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia-election-hack-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ee4e5c03d7d6707/6988b4c3e20a873946a93abf/gettyimages-508572172.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: UN Panel Rules That Wikileaks Founder Is Arbitrarily Detained og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Julian Assange Dismissed the Russia Hacking Report as a 'Press Release' twitter:description: Julian Assange dismissed the U.S. intelligence community's report on Russia's hacking in the 2016 presidential election as a "press release" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ee4e5c03d7d6707/6988b4c3e20a873946a93abf/gettyimages-508572172.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Founder of WikiLeaks Just Dismissed the Russia Hacking Report as a 'Press Release' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 9, 2017 3:26 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 February 5, 2016 in London, England. Carl Court—Getty Images 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 February 5, 2016 in London, England. Carl Court—Getty Images Carl Court—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 9, 2017 3:26 PM UTC Wikileaks founder [Julian Assange](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367%5F2066369%5F2066107,00.html) dismissed [the U.S. intelligence community’s report](http://time.com/4619697/obama-russia-sanctions-election-hacking/) on Russia’s [hacking](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-hackers-runner-up/?iid=sr-link1) in the 2016 presidential election as a “press release” on Monday, calling it politically motivated and damaging to the intelligence community’s reputation. “It is not an intelligence report,” Assange said during a news conference. “This is a press release. It was clearly put out for political purposes.” Assange was particularly critical of the damning report’s conclusion that the Russian hackers showed a preference for President-elect [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) amid its efforts to [damage the reputation of ](http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/politics/russia-hack-report.html)Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The report found no evidence of Russian actors, who it said were directed by President Vladimir Putin, actually tampering with ballots cast during the election, though the intelligence community is confident the hack and release of emails from Democratic officials was carried out in order to influence the election. The intelligence community also concluded emails were released to WikiLeaks in an effort to gain more attention. 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