WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said it was Hillary Clinton’s “own words” that sunk her run for the presidency, not WikiLeaks’ decision to publish them.

“What is the allegation here exactly?” Assange asked in response to a question in an interview with the Italian newspaper la Repubblica about whether he had done a “hit job” on Clinton. “We published what the Democratic National Committee, John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, and Hillary Clinton herself were saying about their own campaign, which the American people read and were very interested to read, and assessed the elements and characters, and then they made a decision,” Assange said. “That decision was based on Hillary Clinton’s own words, her campaign manager’s own words. That’s democracy.”