WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Friday said his organization is "working on" hacking into Donald Trump's tax returns, though the organization Saturday denied that it specifically was doing the hacking.

In an appearance Friday evening on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," political comedian Maher equated Assange's dislike of Hillary Clinton with Russian President Vladimir Putin's dislike of the Democratic nominee.

"It looks like you are working with a bad actor — Russia — to put your thumb on the scale and basically f—k with the one person who stands in the way of us being ruled by Donald Trump," Maher said. Someone hacked the Democratic National Committee email system and gave the missives to Wikileaks, which then released thousands of them, causing an uproar just as the Democratic National Convention got underway.

"Why don't you hack into Donald Trump's tax returns?" Maher asked.

"Well, we're working on it," Assange replied. Trump has refused to release his returns, citing an audit the IRS is conducting.

But on Saturday, Wikileaks tweeted: "WikiLeaks isn't 'working on' hacking Trump's tax-returns. Claim is a joke from a comedy show. We are 'working on' encouraging whistleblowers."


Though security experts have blamed Russia for the hack, Assange avoided commenting on whether WikiLeaks is working with the Russian government.

He said those emails, which revealed the DNC worked to impair Bernie Sanders' campaign in favor of front-runner Hillary Clinton, led to "instant accountability" with the departure of several DNC officials, including chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.