There was an interview last night on Fox between Sean Hannity and long term Ecuadorean embassy resident Julian Assange. I’m not sure if more than four years holed up in that building is affecting his senses yet, but the Wikileaks founder still clearly wants to keep his hand in the game. The big takeaway being teased by Fox is that Assange once again made the claim (which has thus far been ignored in the media for the most part) that all of those Democratic emails they published did not, in fact, come from the Russians or any “state party.” Ian Schwartz at Real Clear Politics has the details.

HANNITY: Can you say to the American people, unequivocally, that you did not get this information about the DNC, John Podesta’s emails, can you tell the American people 1,000 percent that you did not get it from Russia or anybody associated with Russia?

JULIAN ASSANGE: Yes. We can say, we have said, repeatedly that over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party.

Well, that’s about as unequivocal as you could ask for, while keeping in mind that the reliability of this claim rests entirely on how much credibility you give to Assange as an unbiased actor in all of this. He’s definitely a master showman and loves promoting Wikileaks, but does that necessarily mean that he’s bending the truth here to cover his sources? One of the other quotes from the interview would seem to indicate that he’s got a bit of an ax to grind with Barack Obama and the Democrats, so factor that into your conclusion.

Our publications had wide uptake by the American people, they’re all true. But that’s not the allegation that’s being presented by the Obama White House. So, why such a dramatic response? Well, the reason is obvious. They’re trying to delegitimize the Trump administration as it goes into the White House. They are trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate President…

Keep in mind that not only is this not the first time the claim has been made, but Assange isn’t the only one saying it. You may recall that we covered a related story back before Christmas when a similar tale was being told by Craig Murray, the “colorful” former British ambassador to Uzbekistan. At the time, Murray was not only claiming that it wasn’t the Russians, but that he had personally collected the emails from a member of the DNC during a secret meeting in Virginia.

Murray’s history leaves some questions about how heavily we would weigh his testimony as a sole source as well, but the reasons he cited aren’t at all outrageous. He maintains that someone at the DNC who was likely sympathetic to Bernie Sanders was unhappy with the way the Committee was treating him and favoring Clinton. Is that really so hard to believe?

And what if it’s true? If those emails didn’t come from the Russians we’ve got a serious mess on our hands. I’m just glad I’m not the one that has to clean it up.