Wikileaks' Julian Assange to release 'significant' documents on US election, Google, arms trading over next 10 weeks

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange promised on Tuesday, 4 October, to release "significant" documents related to the US election, Google, arms trading and more over the next 10 weeks in the build up to the 8 November election.

Speaking via a video link at the hyped WikiLeaks 10th Anniversary news conference in Berlin, Assange announced the planned release schedule at the end of the event. He said the organisation plans to release the new material on a weekly basis, with the first batch expected to come within the next few days.

"We hope to be publishing every week for the next 10 weeks, we have on schedule, all the US election-related documents to come out before November 8," Assange said. "Our upcoming series includes significant material on war, arms, oil, Google, the US elections and myself."

The 45-year-old Australian national did not specify the time or date for the publication of the new material or any details about what they could include.

He also declined to specify whether the initial batch of documents will be related to the US election.

"I would like to keep that ambiguity, but we have quite a pace ahead of us," Assange said.

Prior to the event, which kicked off at 3am ET, it was already billed as an 'October Surprise' by Trump backers including Roger Stone, Alex Jones as well as Hillary Clinton critics hoping new rumoured documents released by the infamous group could possibly damage the Democratic nominee's chances at the presidency.

However, the two-hour-long news conference failed to produce any new disclosures. Instead, Assange used the opportunity to commemorate the organisation's 10th anniversary, recount its most notorious releases and ask for donations.

"There is enormous expectation in the United States," said Assange. "Some of that expectation will be partly answered; but you should understand that if we're going to make a major publication in relation to the United States at a particular hour, we don't do it at 3am."

Assange downplayed the notion that the forthcoming disclosures could potentially "destroy" Clinton's campaign.

"Are upcoming publications significant in relation to the US election? Yeah, we think they're significant," Assange said. "Do they show interesting features of US power factions and how they operate? Yes, they do."

Assange also denied claims that he and his organisation have been specifically targeting Clinton and the Democratic Party, saying he was misquoted.

"There has been a misquoting of me and Wikileaks publications ... (that suggest) we intend to harm Hillary Clinton or I intend to harm Hillary Clinton or that I don't like Hillary Clinton. All those are false," he said. "The material that WikiLeaks is going to publish before the end of the year is of a very significant moment in different directions, affecting three powerful organisations in three different states as well as the information previously referred to about the US election process," he said.

However, he did slam Clinton for her sharp criticism of his organisation's work following the release of thousands of embarrassing emails reportedly hacked from the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) computer systems that resulted in a number of high-level resignations.

When asked if he had any affinity for Republican candidate Donald Trump, Assange said, "I certainly feel sorry for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. These are two people who are tormented by their ambitions, in different ways."

Assange has been living at Ecuador's London embassy since 2012. Sweden is seeking Assange's extradition in a rape investigation. However, he denies the charges saying he fears being extradited to the US if he leaves, where the government is seeking prosecution related to espionage and WikiLeaks publications.