Guccifer 2.0, who last year took credit for the leaks from Democratic groups like the Democratic National Committee that made waves in the presidential election, dismissed a declassified U.S. intelligence report last week that accused the hacker or group of hackers of being a front for Russian operatives.
“The U.S. intelligence agencies have published several reports of late claiming I have ties with Russia,” Guccifer 2.0 wrote in a blog post Thursday. “I’d like to make it clear enough that these accusations are unfounded. I have totally no relation to the Russian government. I’d like to tell you once again I was acting in accordance with my personal political views and beliefs.”
Last week the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released report on Russian hacking, saying it had “high confidence” that Russia sought to undermine Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s chances in the 2016 election in its efforts to hack into the DNC.
The report said U.S. intelligence officials assessed with “high confidence” that Guccifer 2.0, along with DC Leaks and WikiLeaks, were part of Russian cyber operations.
“Guccifer 2.0, who claimed to be an independent Romanian hacker, made multiple contradictory statements and false claims about his likely Russian identity throughout the election,” the report said. “Press reporting suggests more than one person claiming to be Guccifer 2.0 interacted with journalists.”
The “technical evidence” presented by U.S. intelligence, Guccifer said “doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. This is a crude fake.”
Guccifer 2.0 wrote that it is “obvious that the intelligence agencies are deliberately falsifying evidence.”
Warning that the Obama administration may release more “fakes” in its final week, Guccifer said the Democrats are “trying to blame foreign actors for their failure” — which may be a reference to the party’s failure to win the White House and take back the House or the Senate in the 2016 election.
WikiLeaks too has denied having any Russian connections in an effort to get Donald Trump elected president. This week, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange called the U.S. intelligence report a “press release” that failed to prove Russia was behind the hacks.
