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US Prepares Charges To Seek Arrest of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: U.S. authorities have prepared charges to seek the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell CNN. The Justice Department investigation of Assange and WikiLeaks dates to at least 2010, when the site first gained wide attention for posting thousands of files stolen by the former U.S. Army intelligence analyst now known as Chelsea Manning. Prosecutors have struggled with whether the First Amendment precluded the prosecution of Assange, but now believe they have found a way to move forward. During President Barack Obama's administration, Attorney General Eric Holder and officials at the Justice Department determined it would be difficult to bring charges against Assange because WikiLeaks wasn't alone in publishing documents stolen by Manning. Several newspapers, including The New York Times, did as well. The investigation continued, but any possible charges were put on hold, according to U.S. officials involved in the process then.
The U.S. view of WikiLeaks and Assange began to change after investigators found what they believe was proof that WikiLeaks played an active role in helping Edward Snowden, a former NSA analyst, disclose a massive cache of classified documents. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a news conference Thursday that Assange's arrest is a "priority." "We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks," he said. "This is a matter that's gone beyond anything I'm aware of. We have professionals that have been in the security business of the United States for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks and some of them are quite serious. So yes, it is a priority. We've already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail." Meanwhile, Assange's lawyer said they have "had no communication with the Department of Justice."
The U.S. view of WikiLeaks and Assange began to change after investigators found what they believe was proof that WikiLeaks played an active role in helping Edward Snowden, a former NSA analyst, disclose a massive cache of classified documents. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a news conference Thursday that Assange's arrest is a "priority." "We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks," he said. "This is a matter that's gone beyond anything I'm aware of. We have professionals that have been in the security business of the United States for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks and some of them are quite serious. So yes, it is a priority. We've already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail." Meanwhile, Assange's lawyer said they have "had no communication with the Department of Justice."
You know Trump simply isn't very bright, right? He's a blowhard floated on daddy's money, otherwise he'd be a complete failure in life. Maybe he still technically is a failure personally; he's kind of someone else's 'success'.
Anyway, his ridiculous behaviour has been getting reported on by people inside the White House, so he's currently very much against leakers... and since he has trouble holding more than one thought in his head at a time, he's incapable of considering the consequences of a vigorous and public crusade against all security leaks.
Next time, try electing someone who understands actions have consequences, has some ability to restrain their own ego, and perhaps can consider more than one factor at a time when coming to a decision.
Well Trump is consistent in not doing any of the things he had campaigned to do.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
...the rest of the alt-right
Sheep repeating meaningless buzzwords they heard in the propaganda echo chamber... imagine that. For some reason, the rest of us who don't feel the need to identify as "alt-right" or "entitled SJW snowflake" just shake our heads in disgust at the groupthink.
Think for yourself, schmuck.
-- Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson in The Illuminatus! Trilogy.
There's an old proverb: "When everyone you meet is an asshole, it means that you're not beating up all the assholes fast enough and if only you can speed it up, everyone else will eventually become convinced that you must be one of the good guys."
I know it doesn't sound eloquent, though.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
US secret services know more about this than has been revealed
You trust the same secret services that lied to us about spying on Americans ... repeatedly? If you believe anything they say, you're the idiot. Until someone OTHER than Secret Services (and gets their info from them) says so, I won't believe anything they say. Because they have already lied, under oath, about spying on Americans. And this appears to be another case of that, except that nobody really cares about our Government spying on us, Soviet KGB style ... on steroids.
The political statists (both D and R) are flat out ignoring the repeated claims that our government is who hacked the election, literally, and figuratively, and everything in between.
And as for the Russians, their "hacking" of the DNC, Hillary Campaign and various other people related to HRC, if anything, is proof that the Email server scandal is probably worse than what we believe. You think that Hillary could secure her top level secrets, when she couldn't secure her own campaign? AND people wanted her in office in spite of being completely idiotic with security? Not to mention Uranium One Deal, quid pro quo Bill Speaking fees to Russia, and deposits into the Clinton Foundation?
Politics makes people stupid. The truth is, it is more likely it was Seth Rich that leaked most of what WikiLeaks release. But he is dead, from mugging where nothing was taken. Yeah, that's the ticket!
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.