WikiLeaks tweeted confirmation that Daniel Domscheit-Berg did destroy documents WikiLeaks had obtained. (Credit: WikiLeaks, Twitter)

Former WikiLeaks staff member Daniel Domscheit-Berg claims he “‘shredded’ more than 3,500 unpublished documents” that WikiLeaks had obtained, NYMag reported.

The admission came in a report by Der Spiegel, one of WikiLeaks’ original five “partners” for publishing content in 2010.

Domscheit-Berg claimed that he did so in the name of source protection and accused Assange of “behaving like a child clutching on his toy,” according to Der Spiegel and NYMag.

WikiLeaks tweeted confirming that he his “destroyed data included five gigabytes from the Bank of America,” “a copy of the entire US no-fly list,” “internals of around 20 neo-Nazi organizations,” “US intercept arrangements for over a hundred internet companies,” and more.

Domscheit-Berg rejects some of the WikiLeaks claims, WIRED reported.  He claims that “WikiLeaks is publicly exaggerating the contents of the deleted files.”

According to WIRED, Domscheit-Berg stated “I can confirm that there was a No-Fly list in the batch, but it had not been published back then because it already was public.” But, “WikiLeaks’ other claims about what the destroyed documents contain are ‘false and misleading,'” WIRED reported Domscheit-Berg stated.

In an Aug. 20 “Twitlonger” post, Julian Assange alleged Domscheit-Berg “has repeatedly attempted to blackmail WikiLeaks by threatening to make available, to forces that oppose WikiLeaks,” a cache of “internal communications and over 3000 unpublished, private whistleblower communications.”

Assange posted what he called WikiLeaks’ only “prior formal statement regarding Mr. Domscheit-Berg, which we issued in February.”  That statement claims that “WikiLeaks has been taking legal action” against Domscheit-Berg. It also states that Domscheit-Berg only had a “limited” position in WikiLeaks and that he “has falsely misrepresented himself” as otherwise.

Patriot Act

According to the International Business Times, WikiLeaks is claiming that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has “essentially” subpoenaed WikiLeaks’ domain information.

IB Times explained the U.S. “issued a production order” to Dynadot, “WikiLeaks’ California Domain Name System server.”  ZDNet added that the production order was filed under the U.S. Patriot Act and asks for “all available information” regarding Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

Meanwhile, WikiLeaks claimed its website has been attacked again via a Distributed Denial of Service attack, the IB Times reported.