Washington, DC. While one US regime frees Chelsea Manning to blunt free speech critics in the USA, another prepares to hunt Julian Assange with the CIA’s help. The Trump Administration now admits it is a priority to prosecute and hunt Julian Assange wherever he goes on planet earth.
US Justice Department authorities have prepared charges to seek the arrest of free speech champion Julian Assange, US officials familiar with the matter tell the press.
The 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 US 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 by pass and prostitute the law to seek vindictive prosecution.
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 he wasn’t alone in publishing documents stolen by Manning. Several newspapers, including The New York Times.
The US strategy on Assange began to change after investigators found what they believe was proof that he 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 for his office. “We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks,” he said.