Whistleblower website WikiLeaks denies allegations by its founder, Julian Assange, about “working on” hacking into tax returns by GOP candidate Donald Trump.
Assange who resides in the Ecuadorian embassy in London initially made the remarks via a satellite interview with HBO’s "Real Time" host Bill Maher late on Friday.
During the interview, Maher referred to WikiLeak’s recent release of hacked emails among the staff at the Democratic National Committee, which indicated that the committee had worked in favor of the now Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, during primaries and caucuses in the run up to the 2016 presidential election across the United States.
The host asked the whistleblower if it was fair to attack the only person standing against Trump’s presidency, while suggesting the release of the hacked emails was made in favor of Russia, whose rumored inclination towards Trump has been used by the democrats against him.
“Why haven’t we seen anything hacked from the Trump campaign? I mean obviously we know these came from Russia and we also know that you do not like Hillary Clinton at all as does not Vladimir Putin. So it looks like you are working with a bad actor, Russia,” Maher said.
He later asked Assange why he would not “hack into Donald Trump’s tax returns,” to which he responded, “Well, we’re working on it."
After the news hit the media, however, the transparency website’s twitter account denied the claims, further trying to show the claim as trivial as the interview was conducted during a comedy show.
"WikiLeaks isn't 'working on' hacking Trump's tax returns. Claim is a joke from a comedy show. We are 'working on' encouraging whistleblowers," the group’s account tweeted on Saturday.
This is while high profile US officials have taken part for interviews in the show, including Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Trump, New York billionaire, has declined to release his tax returns despite calls from both Democrats and Republicans.
Heritage Foundation chief economist Stephen Moore, who is an advisor to Trump, told Bloomberg on Friday that the real estate tycoon would talk about his plans for "revitalizing the American economy" in a speech scheduled for Monday.
“If you’re a working-class American, there’s no question that an agenda that cuts taxes, that gets rids of regulations, redoes some of these trade deals in ways that are pro-America, is going to help,” said Moore, who is part of Trump’s team of economic advisers.