Assange says he isn't dropping emails to swing the U.S. election

Despite what a lot people believe, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said he didn't intend to influence the U.S. election when he leaked troves of private emails.

Assange has been publishing copies of thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton's camp during the final months of the election campaign, but claims he did it all for the good of the public.

"This is not due to a personal desire to influence the outcome of the election," Assange, who is hiding out in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, said in a statement. He said the organization publishes any information it receives that is in the public interest and that if he had information on Clinton's rival, Donald Trump, it would also be published.

"We publish material given to us if it is of political, diplomatic, historical or ethical importance and which has not been published elsewhere. When we have material that fulfills this criteria, we publish," Assange wrote in the 1,000-word statement.

"At the same time, we cannot publish what we do not have. To date, we have not received information on Donald Trump’s campaign, or Jill Stein’s campaign, or Gary Johnson’s campaign or any of the other candidates that fufills our stated editorial criteria."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The extensive leak, which journalists have been rummaging through for juicy details, mainly exposed insider conversations. Some of the unusual things we have discovered: Tim Cook was suggested as Clinton's vice president and that John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chief, may have been hacked.

Following the leaks, U.S. intelligence claimed WikiLeaks was acting as a delivery vehicle for Russia, who it believes stole some of the emails.

In the statement, Assange said the Clinton campaign was spreading misinformation about Moscow's involvement and denied WikiLeaks had any connection with Russia.

"The Clinton campaign, when they were not spreading obvious untruths, pointed to unnamed sources or to speculative and vague statements from the intelligence community to suggest a nefarious allegiance with Russia," Assange wrote. "The campaign was unable to invoke evidence about our publications—because none exists."

-- Additional reporting by Associated Press.