WikiLeaks is offering a $20,000 reward to anyone who exposes the destruction of "significant records" by a member of the Obama administration. In a tweet on Tuesday evening, Wikileaks said “We are issuing a US$20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or exposure of any Obama admin agent destroying significant records,” however, it has not explicitly alleged that the administration is suspected of inappropriately eradicating material.

We are issuing a US$20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or exposure of any Obama admin agent destroying significant records. pic.twitter.com/kRRP246uGo — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 4, 2017

The surprising announcement may have been provoked by a previous tweeted in which Wikileaks hinted that the US government is quietly eradicating mentions of the organization from official statements: "'WikiLeaks' disappears from US govt statements. Compare 7 Oct 2016, vs 16 December, 2016 & December 29, 2016 JAR"

'WikiLeaks' disappears from US govt statements. Compare 7 Oct 2016, vs 16 December, 2016 & December 29, 2016 JAR https://t.co/4jtwXMrTw2 pic.twitter.com/ppDaAO88vj — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 3, 2017

Ten minutes prior to offering the reward, WikiLeaks urged any system administrator working under Obama to become whistleblowers: “System admins: Don't let the White House destroy US history again! Copy now, then send to WikiLeaks at your leisure.”

System admins: Don't let the White House destroy US history again! Copy now, then send to WikiLeaks at your leisure https://t.co/T4EtSSOKuy — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 4, 2017



Embedded in the tweet was a screenshot of a 2009 email sent from Principal Deputy Counsel for the Obama administration Daniel Meltzer to James Messina, then-White House deputy chief of staff. The mail discusses a query from the National Archives as to the whereabouts of a missing and believed stolen two terabyte drive containing electronic records from the Bill Clinton administration. The email was forwarded to Hillary Clinton by aide Cheryl Mills.

As RT adds, Republicans have also run into trouble over their lack of preservation of administration emails. The George W Bush administration lost millions of emails in the lead-up to the war in Iraq, claiming they had been accidentally mislabeled. The messages were later recovered. Federal Law calls for the preservation of presidential records, however personal records are exempt.

The tweets were issued just hours before the airing of the full Sean Hannity interview with Julian Assange, which is already the topic of at least two Trump tweets, as noted earlier. In the first tweet, Trump sided with Assange's side of the story that Russia was not involved in the hacking of the DNC, as follows "Julian Assange said "a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta" - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!" In a follow up tweet, Trump quoted Assange in bashing the US press: "Julian Assange on U.S. media coverage: “It’s very dishonest.” #Hannity pic.twitter.com/ADcPRQifH9" More dishonest than anyone knows."