During a Monday morning conference call, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said that National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden’s digital trove of leaked documents and materials was “secured by the relevant journalistic organizations prior to travel.”

Assange's comments could suggest that The Guardian and the Washington Post—where Snowden previously leaked information—are now in possession of his entire cache. Ars asked The Guardian and the Post to confirm this but did not receive an immediate reply.

This morning's call was arranged shortly after it was revealed that Snowden was not on an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Havana. Assange would not disclose Snowden’s location, so his whereabouts remain unknown. (Both White House and Ecuador representatives believe Snowden is currently in Russia.) Ars has made a complete recording of the call available as an MP3 or through a stream below.

“We are aware of where Mr. Snowden is,” he said. “He is in a safe place, and his spirits are high due to the bellicose threats coming from the US administration—we cannot go into details as this time.”

One reporter asked if WikiLeaks has obtained or was seeking to obtain Snowden’s materials.

“That’s a sourcing matter, so as a matter of policy we can't speak about it,” Assange said. “In relation to publishing such material, of course WikiLeaks is in the business of publishing documents that are suppressed by governments. WikiLeaks has no problems publishing materials [or such] documents.”

Bound for Ecuador via a safe path through Russia

Assange conducted the call from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London (coincidentally, Snowden is known to have also applied for asylum with Ecuador). The WikiLeaks leader was measured and answered nearly every question deliberately and precisely, speaking in a slow monotone. Additional WikiLeaks staff and supporters were also involved with the call, including Kristinn Hrafnsson, an Iceland-based WikiLeaks spokesperson who approached his country’s government with an asylum application on Snowden’s behalf.

“Edward Snowden left Hong Kong on the 23rd of June bound for Ecuador via a safe path through Russia and other states,” Assange said. “Mr. Snowden has submitted an asylum application to Ecuador and possibly to other countries. Today we have seen a range of extreme bellicose statements from the US administration attempting to bully Russia and other nations from assisting in Mr. Snowden's asylum. Every person has the right to receive political asylum. It is counterproductive and unacceptable for the Obama administration to try and interfere with those rights.”

Assange argued that the prosecution of previous whistleblowers like Bradley Manning "is part of a pattern of misconduct, part of the Obama administration’s war on whistleblowers.”

“The Obama administration hopes to erect a new interpretation of law which defines journalistic sources as spies, and that is not acceptable,” he continued. “If such a precedent is permitted, it will result in the complete destruction of national security journalism within the United States. Already, serious national security journalists are speaking about how their government sources are too scared to reveal government misconduct in a national security sphere. That's an extremely serious matter. At the same as time the national security sector of the United States is increasing its share of the US tax burden and at the same time where unprecedented levels of criminality and abuse are being uncovered, it seeks to weaken the press, who is the only effective mechanism of bringing it to account.”

“I instructed the organization to assist Mr. Snowden”

During the question-and-answer period, BBC reporter Paul Adams challenged Assange. Adams noted the “obvious irony" of trying to cooperate with the Chinese and Russian authorities: "Given their problematic relationship with the values of privacy and freedom of speech that you hold dear—and if Edwards Snowden ends up in Ecuador—doesn’t the same irony pertain? I wonder: are you simply involving those countries because they're happy to stick one in the eye of the United States rather than upholding those values that you represent?"

Assange replied to start a quick back-and-forth:

“I simply do not see the irony. Mr. Snowden has revealed information about mass, unlawful spying which has affected every single one of us. The US administration has issued a series of bellicose, unilateral threats against him and against others who are attempting to support his rights. That is a very serious situation and any country that assists in upholding his rights must be applauded for doing so.” “Even when they don’t uphold those rights for their own citizens?” Adams asked. “That's another matter. In these cases, we do not criticize people for seeking refugee status in the United States despite its use of torture, drone strikes and executive kill lists and so on. No one is suggesting that countries like Ecuador are engaged in those types of abuse.”

Throughout the conversation, Assange answered nearly all the questions himself. He did however seem a bit testy at times—for instance, in this exchange with Jeanne Whalen of the Wall Street Journal:

“What advanced communications did you have with Russian officials to ensure Snowden could land there? Can you tell us who they are and how you got contact with them in the first place?" “In relation to Mr. Snowden's safe passage to asylum, there was no advanced communication with Russian officials prior to his departure from Hong Kong,” Assange said. "So he just landed there without the Russians knowing that he was coming?" “I already answered the question.” “So your answer to that was 'yes'?” “My answer was what it was," Assange concluded.

Toward the end of the call, Larry Abramson, NPR's national security correspondent, asked Assange if he had been involved early on in Snowden's plight. “Did you have any contact with Snowden before he left the United States, and were you part of decision to go to Hong Kong?" For now, Assange left this detail to the imagination.

“I instructed the organization to assist Mr. Snowden, but I cannot go into further details at this stage,” he said.

In addition to the conference call, another new piece of Snowden information came to light this morning. According to the South China Morning Post, Snowden wanted a job with Booz Allen specifically so he could gather evidence on the NSA surveillance.

“My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked,” he told SCMP on June 12. “That is why I accepted that position about three months ago.”