Assange keeps Hillary hanging: Wikileaks boss says he WON'T publish his stash of 1million secret documents today - but he promises they'll be out before the election 

  • Julian Assange claimed he was not plotting to bring down Hillary Clinton  
  • WikiLeaks claims it has 10million further documents it is going to publish 
  • More top secret documents are expected to be published later this week
  • He is planning to release large caches of documents until November's poll  
  • However, he mocked claims he would release new secrets today as he spoke at event to celebrate website's 10th anniversary 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today revealed he will publish a huge tranche of one million leaked documents before the US presidential election - but denied he is trying to torpedo Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Speaking over a video link from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Assange admitted he was not releasing any new explosive documents today, but had a packed schedule over the next ten weeks. 

WikiLeaks held a press conference to celebrate the organization's tenth anniversary in Berlin amid intense speculation that Assange was going to release data which could torpedo Hillary Clinton's campaign.

The website's boss said he plans 'to be publishing every week for the next 10 weeks' and the leaks include 'significant material' on war, arms, oil, Google and the US election.

Julian Assange, pictured,  said he was going to release more US information but not at 3am

Julian Assange, pictured,  said he was going to release more US information but not at 3am

Assange, pictured here on video link from the Ecuadorian embassy in London claimed that if he was ever forced to resign from Wikileaks the organization would continue without him 

Assange, pictured here on video link from the Ecuadorian embassy in London claimed that if he was ever forced to resign from Wikileaks the organization would continue without him 

However, following some 90 minutes of appeals for more funding and several plugs for a new WikiLeaks book, no new information was released into the public domain at the conference in Berlin. 

Instead, the organization went through a 'greatest hits' compilation of the most important data dumps of the past decade. 

Assange claims to have released 10million secret documents so far and is preparing to publish a further 10million. 

The first million of those documents will be released later this year.  

Assange was evasive when asked the nature of the leaks relating to the US election campaign, simply insisting 'there are a lot of fascinating angles'.

He said: 'There's an enormous expectation in the United States - part of that expectation will be answered. But if we're going to make a major publication in the United States at a particular hour, we don't do it at 3am.' 

The briefing was light on detail. Assange asked himself: 'Do they show interesting features of US power factions? Yes they do.' 

Assange used this morning's event to appeal for more assistance from the public. 

He said: 'We're going to need... an army to defend us from the pressure that is already starting to arrive.'  

Assange, pictured here in February on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, had originally planned to recreate the stunt during today's press conference

Assange, pictured here in February on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, had originally planned to recreate the stunt during today's press conference

Journalist Sarah Harrison began the press conference highlighting Wikileaks' greatest hits

Assange claimed that WikiLeaks was now the target of a witch hunt orchestrated in particular by Clinton, likening it to the repression of American communists in the 1950s driven by then senator Joseph McCarthy.

Assange said WikiLeaks would scale up to 'amplify our publications and to defend us against what is really a quite remarkable McCarthyist push in the United States at the moment, principally by Hillary Clinton and her allies because she happens to be the person being exposed at the moment'.

Asked whether he felt affinity with Clinton's Republican rival Donald Trump, he said: 'I feel personal affinity with all human beings. Through understanding someone, you can feel sorry for them.

'I certainly feel sorry for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. These are two people who are tormented by their ambitions.'

Assange refused to say when the first US election leaks would be published but said his next major release of information would be this week. 

Large numbers of Americans tuned in because of the promise of an #octobersurprise

Large numbers of Americans tuned in because of the promise of an #octobersurprise

Many Trump fans had predicted Assange was going to release information to destroy Hillary

Many Trump fans had predicted Assange was going to release information to destroy Hillary

He was asked by journalists at the event about his views of the two main presidential candidates. Assange claimed they were both 'tormented by their ambitions'.

However, he stressed he was not going to 'destroy' Hillary Clinton's campaign and claimed he had been misquoted.  

Attacking Clinton over her attitude towards the organization, he said: 'The Hillary Clinton campaign has been going around saying, "Don't read Wikileaks because there's malware."' 

He said even if he is forced to resign, WikiLeaks will continue to release top secret information.

He claimed he was going to open up WikiLeaks to membership and wanted to expand the number of media organizations it currently works with. 

Asked during the two-hour press conference how his health was after spending four years inside the embassy, Assange replied that he was 'a bit pale'.

He added: 'I was thinking, it would be pretty interesting for Vitamin D research. It's pretty rare to have a subject who has not seen the sun for four years but is otherwise healthy.'

Assange, pictured over video link, claimed he could not give his planned London press conference  because of security concerns over appearing on the embassy's balcony 

Assange, pictured over video link, claimed he could not give his planned London press conference  because of security concerns over appearing on the embassy's balcony 

In a tweet on Monday afternoon, WikiLeaks said Assange's speech in London was moved to Berlin due to 'specific information' but did not elaborate further

In a tweet on Monday afternoon, WikiLeaks said Assange's speech in London was moved to Berlin due to 'specific information' but did not elaborate further

Journalist Sarah Harrison told the press conference that WikiLeaks will continue to publish large archives of information such as the US State Department cables, which she said helped launch the 'Tunisian revolution'.

She accused 'the powers to be' of launching a large spin machine against WikiLeaks in advance of every major release of information.  

The organization has denied that it is 'an agent' of Vladimir Putin during today's press conference. 

WIKILEAKS TOP TEN LEAKS 

GITMO FILES: Exposed abuses of the Geneva convention

IRAQ AND AFGHAN WAR LOGS: Showed accurate casualty rates and evidence of abuse by police and military

THE MINTON REPORT: Exposed how Trafiguara dumped toxic waste off the coast of the Ivory Coast

COLLATERAL MURDER: Showed camera footage of a US Apache Gunship attacking 18 Iraqis including two Reuters journalists 

PLUSD: More than three million diplomatic cables from US embassies and consulates released 

THE SYRIA FILES: More than two million emails from inside Bashar al-Assad's regime between 2006 and 2012

GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE FILES: Files from private intelligence firm Stratfor

TPP, TTIP AND TISA: Sensitive documents relating to secretive trade agreements

NSA WORLD LEADERS TARGETS: Highly classified documents of intercepts from various world leaders including the UN secretary general

DNC LEAKS:  Almost 20,000 emails leaked showing how the Democratic Party undermined Hillary Clinton's main rival Bernie Sanders

Harrison claimed WikiLeaks has released 650,000 documents relating to Russia with a further 2.3million emails relating to Bashar al-Assad. 

The organization denied playing a partisan role in the US election despite the mass leak of emails from the Democratic National Congress - which WikiLeaks included in their top ten best stories of the past decade.  

They said: 'WikiLeaks provides a safe means for whistleblowers to make disclosures to the public on wrongdoing committed by any government or private enterprise. If we have significant confidential information on Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton we will publish it. If we have information on any significant power faction or candidate in a globally significant election campaign, we publish it.' 

Harrison told the press conference that Hillary Clinton had even considered 'droning' Assange. 

But Assange at the last minute cancelled what would have been a rare public appearance on the balcony of his 18-square-metre room in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, citing security concerns.

Ten years after it was founded, the site has faced growing charges that it is manipulated by politicians - either by recycling documents provided by Moscow, or by allegedly serving the interests of Donald Trump in the US presidential election race.

'We're not going to start censoring our publications because there is a US election,' Assange told Der Spiegel in an interview.

WikiLeaks launched in January 2007, with Assange saying it would use encryption and a censorship-proof website to protect sources and publicise secret information. 

It first caught the world's attention when it released manuals for prison guards at Guantanamo Bay. 

But it really hit its stride in 2010, unveiling logs of US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and a video showing a US helicopter crew mowing down a group of unarmed civilians - including two journalists - in Baghdad.

That same year it also published a cache of diplomatic cables from US embassies around the world, deeply embarrassing Washington.

'The most important single collection of material we have published is the US diplomatic cable series,' Assange told Der Spiegel.  

WikiLeaks said it has a further 10million documents it is preparing to release  in coming weeks

WikiLeaks said it has a further 10million documents it is preparing to release  in coming weeks

Julian Assange, pictured, is believed to be preparing damaging information on Hillary Clinton

Julian Assange, pictured, is believed to be preparing damaging information on Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump supporters claimed Wikileaks would release highly damaging information this week on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in a so-called October Surprise event

Donald Trump supporters claimed Wikileaks would release highly damaging information this week on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in a so-called October Surprise event

Conservative political commentator Roger Stone believes Clinton's campaign will collapse

Conservative political commentator Roger Stone believes Clinton's campaign will collapse

A new report claims that Clinton once proposed a military drone strike to take out Assange in a bid to silence WikiLeaks. Above, one of Clinton's aides sent an email with the subject line ‘an SP memo on possible legal and nonlegal strategies re Wikileaks’

A new report claims that Clinton once proposed a military drone strike to take out Assange in a bid to silence WikiLeaks. Above, one of Clinton's aides sent an email with the subject line 'an SP memo on possible legal and nonlegal strategies re Wikileaks'

Several WikiLeaks supporters protested outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London today 

Several WikiLeaks supporters protested outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London today 

Assange has remained holed-up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, pictured,  since 2012

Assange has remained holed-up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, pictured,  since 2012

But 2010 also saw grave blows to the organisation.

Assange was accused of having sex with a woman while she was asleep after the two met at a Stockholm conference.

The white-haired WikiLeaks founder took refuge in the London embassy of Ecuador - which granted him political asylum in 2012 after he lost a legal battle to block his extradition to Sweden.

The 45-year-old has always maintained the allegations are false and has refused to travel to Stockholm for questioning due to concerns that Sweden will hand him over to the US to stand trial for espionage.

But Assange's abrasive style and insistence on publishing unredacted documents quickly grated on colleagues and journalists who worked with him.

WHY IS JULIAN ASSANGE IN THE ECUADOR EMBASSY?

Julian Assange is facing allegations of rape and sexual assault following an alleged incident in Sweden in 2010 involving two women.

Just days before WikiLeaks began publishing the diplomatic cables in November 2010, Swedish authorities issued a pan-European warrant for his arrest.

Assange was arrested one month later in London.

He has lived in the Ecuadoran embassy since June 2012 after exhausting his British legal options.

Assange has insisted the accusations are politically motivated and could lead to his eventual extradition to the United States, where supporters say he could face the death penalty.

'If an Afghan civilian helps coalition forces, he deserves to die,' Guardian investigative journalist Nick Davies later recalled Assange saying in an argument over whether to remove names from the war logs. 

In 2013, former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden chose to leak documents exposing intelligence agencies' mass surveillance programmes to selected journalists instead of offering the trove to WikiLeaks.

And many later whistleblowers have turned to other organisations.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists this year published stories based on data dumps from tax havens Panama and the Bahamas, while environmental group Greenpeace in May released documents from negotiations over a controversial US-EU free trade deal.

WikiLeaks caused a fresh stir in July when it leaked emails showing US Democratic Party officials favouring Hillary Clinton over left-winger Bernie Sanders in presidential primary elections, forcing high-ranking party members to resign.

Assange himself is unmoved by criticisms of his organisation.

'We believe in what we're doing,' he told Spiegel. 'The attacks only make us stronger.' 

 

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