Washington: US President Donald Trump has claimed to "know nothing about WikiLeaks" despite past praise for the anti-secrecy organisation during his presidential campaign.

US President Donald Trump speaks while Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s president, left.Credit:Bloomberg

Trump was asked in the Oval Office on Thursday about the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London.

The president, who was sitting next to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said "It's not my thing" and didn't elaborate.

Trump praised WikiLeaks more than 100 times during the stretch run of the 2016 presidential campaign.

That autumn, WikiLeaks released stolen embarrassing emails from the campaign of Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton.

US President Donald Trump.Credit:Bloomberg

"When you're given shelter, cared for and provided food you don't denounce the owner of the house," said Moreno to applause at an event outside Quito.

He added that Ecuador will "be more careful in giving asylum to people who are really worth it and not miserable hackers whose only goal is to destabilize governments."

In his words, "We are tolerant, calm people but we're not stupid."

Lenin's predecessor, former ex-President Rafael Correa criticised what he considered a "double standard" by Western media and governments who he said have been quick to condemn  Assange for publishing sensitive information about US national security interests.

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno.Credit:AP

Correa, who granted Assange asylum in 2012, in an interview with The Associated Press was harshly critical of his successor's decision to expel the Wikileaks founder from Ecuador's embassy in London.

"Although Julian Assange denounced war crimes, he's only the person supplying the information. It's the New York Times, the Guardian and El Pais publishing it. Why aren't those journalists and media owners thrown in jail?" he said in an interview in Brussels. "It's because they're attacking at the weakest link."

He said that if Assange had been Chinese dissident exposing Russian secrets "he'd be receiving awards right now in the UK and US" instead of facing arrest and extradition.

While he said that Assange had violated the terms of his asylum "that's no excuse for throwing him to the lions."

Ecuador’s ex-president Rafael Correa.Credit:AP

He said President Lenin Moreno was acting out of selfish political interests to the detriment of Latin America's tradition of asylum after WikiLeaks published information about an offshore bank account allegedly used by the president and his family to buy up properties and furniture in Europe.

Still, he said he was surprised Moreno went so far as to expel Assange.

"I knew they were trying to break him and were treating him like a piece of merchandise," he said. "But I didn't think they would dare to go so far."

Russia has criticised the way in which London police arrested Assange at the foreign embassy where he took asylum in 2012 and since remained in hiding.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday the way Assange was treated gave "the full impression of an open and rude disregard for the human dignity of the arrested."

She said: Russia hopes "all the rights of Julian Assange will be respected."

Ecuador's president says his government withdrew Assange's asylum status almost seven years after he sought refuge in the country's embassy in London, alleging "repeated violations of international conventions and daily-life protocols."

AP

Source: Read Full Article