The White House will not comment on whether the US Department of Justice will pursue charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange or request that Russia extradite Edward Snowden to the United States, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a briefing on Friday.
On Thursday, US media reported that the Department of Justice is ready to file charges against Assange for a 2010 leak of confidential federal documents and a recent release of CIA secret files.
“We won’t comment on ongoing investigations, however I think it’s been pretty clear that the Department of Justice will prosecute any violations of federal law when it comes to our national security,” Spicer stated.
Earlier this month, the CIA director said that Wikileaks acts like a hostile intelligence service. Assange commented on the claim by saying that the accusations come from the “state non-intelligence agency” which produced al-Qaeda, ISIS [Daesh], Iraq, Iran & Pinochet.”
In November 2010, the Justice Department opened a probe into potential crimes committed by Assange which is still ongoing. Assange applied for asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 out of fear of being sent to Sweden, where he has been accused of sexual assault and rape. Assange has denied all the charges.