WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denounced the Democratic Party’s claims that its emails were published as part of a Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin plot to make their party look bad, calling them both groundless and an attempt to create a distraction.

In an interview with NBC News, Mr. Assange said that while “we have not disclosed our source,” he rebuffed claims of Russian involvement.

“Well, there is no proof of that whatsoever,” he said, going on to note the strong Democratic incentive to make “the story” something other than what’s in the emails.

“This is a diversion that’s being pushed by the Hillary Clinton campaign. That’s a meta-story. The real story is what these emails contain and they show collusion” by top party leaders to rig the presidential-primary process in favor of Mrs. Clinton, he said.

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