WikiLeaks releases Macron French presidential campaign emails

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WikiLeaks on Monday released a searchable database stocked with more than 21,000 "verified" emails that the anti-secrecy site claimed originated with the campaign of French president Emmanuel Macron.

Nearly 72,000 emails, including 26,506 attachments, were also released to provide context, WikiLeaks said in a statement. However, the organization cautioned only "21,075 emails have been individually forensically verified" through its Domain Keys Identified Mail system.

WikiLeaks published the messages in a searchable database, similar to the one it created in October for emails alleged to have come from the account of John Podesta, the campaign chair for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

The Macron emails were initially published in May, just two days before the French people voted in the presidential election. Macron was seen as a frontrunner against his far-right rival Marine Le Pen.

Macron confirmed the hack then, saying in a statement through his political party: "The En Marche! Movement has been the victim of a massive and coordinated hack this evening which has given rise to the diffusion on social media of various internal information."

The emails were posted on a profile called EMLEAKS to Pastebin, according to Reuters. It was unclear who was responsible for the leaks, the head of France's cybersecurity agency ANSSI saying in June that "it could be anyone."

The leaks proved to have little impact on the French election. Macron beat Le Pen in a landslide.

WikiLeaks said its DKIM system is able to sift through the emails to independently to authenticate the content and sender.