WikiLeaks battled with online critics after attacking U.S. officials for issuing portions of a report on Russian hacking before Donald Trump's intelligence briefing.
The hacktivist group, which posted the emails and other data that U.S. officials believe were obtained at the direction of senior Russian officials, objected to the release of information contained in a U.S. intelligence report about the stolen documents.
The intelligence assessment, which was presented Thursday to President Barack Obama, found that Russian officials fed the material hacked from the Democratic National Committee through third parties to WikiLeaks at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The same assessment will be presented Friday to Trump, who is scheduled to be inaugurated in two weeks.
Trump, who has rejected the consensus view of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia attempted to interfere with the election -- possibly on his behalf -- echoed WikiLeaks concerns about the leaked report.
Twitter users expressed astonishment that WikiLeaks -- whose motto is "we open governments" -- would slam the federal government for releasing closely held information.
An official WikiLeaks account chimed in to split rhetorical hairs, arguing the leak was actually a funnel -- which is apparently unacceptable -- and authorized, which is also unacceptable.
