Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that the Democratic National Committee leaked the document itself. | Getty Trump accuses DNC of 'hacking' its own oppo research on him

Donald Trump has his own theory on how a trove of Democratic National Committee opposition research on him appeared to make its way to the public — the DNC itself leaked it.

The file, which the Washington Post reported was stolen by Russian government hackers, was published Wednesday afternoon by The Smoking Gun and Gawker, which said it received the document from an anonymous source who identified himself only as “Guccifer 2.0.” But Trump saw the release differently, accusing the DNC of releasing the research as a diversionary tactic.


“We believe it was the DNC that did the ‘hacking’ as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate and failed party leader,” Trump said in a statement released Wednesday. “Too bad the DNC doesn’t hack Crooked Hillary’s, 33,000 missing emails.”

The comprehensive, 211-page document lays out multiple lines of attack against the billionaire, attacking him as “loyal only to himself” and as a man with “no core.” It lists, with thorough sourcing, Trump’s various positional shifts on key issues and checkered personal history, including accusations of infidelity and allegations of rape against him by his wife, Ivana Trump.

“This is all information that has been out there for many years,” the presumptive Republican nominee’s statement read. “Much of it false and/or entirely inaccurate.”

