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THE ARREST OF WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a US “priority”, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said, as media reports indicated his office was preparing charges against the fugitive anti-hero.
“We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks,” Sessions, America’s top cop, said at a news conference in response to a reporter’s question about a US priority to arrest Assange.
The Justice Department chief said a rash of leaks of sensitive secrets appeared unprecedented.
“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,” he said.
Whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail.
Prosecutors in recent weeks have been drafting a memo that looks at charges against Assange and members of WikiLeaks that possibly include conspiracy, theft of government property and violations of the Espionage Act, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed US officials familiar with the matter.
Several other media outlets also cited unnamed officials as saying US authorities were preparing charges against Assange. The Justice Department declined to comment on the reports.
Assange, aged 45, has been holed up at the Ecuadoran embassy in London since 2012 trying to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faces a rape allegation that he denies.
He fears Sweden would extradite him to the United States to face trial for leaking hundreds of thousands of secret US military and diplomatic documents that first gained attention in 2010.
Assange’s case returned to the spotlight after WikiLeaks was accused of meddling in the US election last year by releasing a damaging trove of hacked emails from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic party.
US officials say the emails were hacked with the aid of the Russian government in its bid to influence the US election.
Critics say their release late in the race helped to tip the 8 November election to Republican Donald Trump.
Trump and his administration have put heat on WikiLeaks after it embarrassed the Central Intelligence Agency last month by releasing a large number of files and computer code from the spy agency’s top-secret hacking operations.
The documents showed how the CIA exploits vulnerabilities in popular computer and networking hardware and software to gather intelligence.
Supporters of WikiLeaks say it’s practicing the constitutional right of freedom of speech and the press.
‘Hostile intelligence service’
CIA Director Mike Pompeo last week branded WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence service,” saying it threatens democratic nations and joins hands with dictators.
Pompeo focused on the anti-secrecy group and other leakers of classified information like Edward Snowden as one of the key threats facing the United States.
“WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service. It has encouraged its followers to find jobs at CIA in order to obtain intelligence… And it overwhelmingly focuses on the United States, while seeking support from anti-democratic countries and organisations,” said Pompeo.
“It is time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is – a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.”
The day before Pompeo spoke, Assange published an opinion piece in The Washington Post in which he said his group’s mission was the same as America’s most respected newspapers: “to publish newsworthy content.”
“WikiLeaks’s sole interest is expressing constitutionally protected truths,” he said, professing “overwhelming admiration for both America and the idea of America.”
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He deserves a Nobel peace prize.
@brian boru: but in the land of make believe that will never happen….Trump on the other hand is a prime candidate….
@brian boru: and when he was leaking Clinton’s email Trump though he was his hero.
I shocked that the Trump regime would be after him after all the help he gave them.
Ecuador needs to get nukes now. Their embassy in London needs to be careful about any new hires, particularly in the kitchen. The Murderers are on their case
The worlds best investigative journalist, one of the dwindling few, and of course the tyrannical USA wants to kill him.
@methodical2020: indeed, I’m a regular Richie Allen listener too.
@james o reilly: they are going to plug the leak
@methodical2020: I like Ritchie and I enjoy his show, he interviews people mainstream media would not entertain and is not afraid to ask the right questions however is idolisation of David Icke annoys me, while I agree with what a lot of Icke has to say I feel Ritchie can be a bit of a lap dog.
did Trump really take a WikiLeak in a Russian hotel?
@alphanautica: i thought he took a data dump
@Zx5vZulB: Allegedly this is his fave tune – https://youtu.be/Hy8kmNEo1i8
Doesn’t he know that the US government released a leaker called Chelsea Manning and now he wants Assange arrested for the same thing, left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing if you ask me.
‘Merica
didn’t Assange promise to turn himself in if that happened?
@Dave O Keeffe: He promised to go and answer questions if they wanted. I wonder why they’ve not bothered after all this time?
@Linda: strange, they want to question him, he wants to be questioned, what’s the hold up? Oh yeah, he’s pretty much in prison already and at this point America isn’t directly responsible.
@Dave O Keeffe: Hmm no that doesn’t sound quite right. Probably more likely they know he’s done nothing wrong and they’ve nothing to charge him with. But they’re going to try really, really hard to find something!
@Dave O Keeffe:
Yes, but he didn’t believe it actually would happen…
He also said he had a huge amount of material compromising to Russia and said he was going to release it, but we’re still waiting for that too…
There’d be nothing to leak if they werent doing anything wrong
He’ll obviously be going after Hillary Clinton too?
Assange is a joke at this stage. Couldn’t care less about him.
The CIA calling Wikileaks a hostile intelligence agency is hilarious.
Trump probably more worries about what else he has on him / I’d imagine some hookers in a Russian hotel is way down the list
The hypocrisy of the US is astounding. Basically wants to turn every device in the world into a listening hub for their own benefit. Oh but if someone does it to them..
I think this is what you call a tidy up of loose ends.
Assange is a moron. He’s anti American & he has not leaked anything about Russia as there’s a serious threat to his life if he did. Playing a positive role with these leaks would be desirable but being anti American makes him just part of the consensus. Neither inspire any confidence in him.
@Mjhint: American running dog?
@Mjhint: So you didn’t read to the end of the article? The bit where Assange is reported to have professed overwhelming admiration for both America and the idea of America? And if you did, what – in your opinion – makes him a liar?
Go Trump! Choo-choo!
Very ungreatfulf of Trump to do this…..If it wasn’t for Assange Trump would not be president now….
@John003: yes.. but he has no use for him now
@John003: I agree with both you & Fergal..
I don’t like snake oil salesmen like tRump who only wanted to enrich himself and his ilk further…
Just use a cruise missle – sure what does it matter if a few knobs get in the way they still get their man!
Compromising someones political ambitions one thing but compromising national security is a far more serious matter. Democrats as usual have their priorities in reverse.
Are they stupid as ALL the leaks are coming from within the US?
If they were acting proper and not as a business and as a friend to businesses then there would be no leaks, all the leaks prove is how corrupt the US government are???
have your say