WikiLeaks could release more material on US election, says Assange

Even as the dust is yet to settle on the controversy surrounding the high-profile DNC hack, which has played a prominent role in the 2016 US presidential election, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said his whistleblowing platform may make public "a lot more" campaign material related to the election.

Just a week after WikiLeaks released nearly 20,000 DNC emails which came close on the heels of the DNC hack by suspected Russian hackers, WikiLeaks released 25 DNC voicemails that likely come from the leaked email dump. According to a report by Motherboard, there is no evidence to indicate that the voicemail recordings are part of a new leak.

Assange told CNN in an interview that DNC officials were taking advantage of the possibility of Russia's involvement in the hack to distract voters from the contents of the emails, which have revealed shocking internal discord and collusion.

Speaking from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where Assange has resided for five years now, he said: "It raises questions about the natural instincts of Clinton that when confronted with a serious domestic political scandal, she tries to blame the Russians, blame the Chinese, et cetera. Because if she does that while in government, it could lead to problems."

He, however, refrained from either confirming or denying Russia's involvement in the hack. "Perhaps one day the source or sources will step forward and that might be an interesting moment some people may have egg on their faces. But to exclude certain actors is to make it easier to find out who our sources are," Assange added.

Despite mounting evidence indicating Russia's involvement in the hack, Kremlin officials have rejected all allegations. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "I completely rule out a possibility that the Russian government or government bodies have been involved in this."

Donald Trump also weighed in, encouraging Russia to find Hillary Clinton's 30,000 missing emails. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said." I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."

The Republican presidential nominee has been severely criticised by the Clinton campaign, who accused him of spurring a foreign rival to "commit espionage in the US".