New York: Newly arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange needs to "answer for what he has done," Hillary Clinton said on Thursday.

The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee and former secretary of state weighed in on Assange while at a speaking event with her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Former President Bill Clinton, left, and Paul Begala, right, listen and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Beacon Theatre in New York. Credit:AP

Assange was arrested earlier on Thursday at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and the US has charged him with conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break into a classified government computer at the Pentagon.

WikiLeaks' publication of Democratic emails stolen by Russian intelligence officers during the 2016 election season hurt Clinton's presidential campaign. Donald Trump, Clinton's Republican opponent, frequently showered praise on Assange during the final weeks of the campaign and cheered on the release of damaging emails from Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta.