The source was Declan Walsh, who was a journalist for the Guardian and now the NYT.

So definitely not politically motivated!

But would political motivation even be relevant? With how politically motivated assange was, political motivation is clearly not an issue in his context.

Or would it be a classic case of “it’s okay when my guy does it, but people I don’t like aren’t allowed to”

Political motivation is what makes hearsay bad. Wikileaks never relied on hearsay.