What does the Assange arrest mean for tRump?

[SHRED]

Any predictions?

[struggle4progress]

1. Arrest gives Trump amnesia

By William Goldschlag and Dan Janison
Updated April 11, 2019 10:42 PM

Donald Trump has boasted of having "one of the great memories of all time."

One could wonder if it suddenly failed him Thursday when the president was asked to comment on the arrest in London of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who got the heave-ho from the Ecuadorian Embassy that had given him sanctuary for seven years and now faces extradition to the U.S.

"I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It's not my thing," Trump said ...

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/trump-wikileaks-assange-barr-mueller-north-korea-1.29691724

[struggle4progress]

2. Praised WikiLeaks 141 times

By Washington bureau chief Zoe Daniel with Emily Olson
Posted 58 minutes ago

"WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks," Mr Trump, then a presidential candidate, said on October 10, 2016 ...

"This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove," he commented three weeks later on October 31, and "Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks", on November 4.

... Mr Trump mentioned WikiLeaks 141 times in the month before the 2016 election ...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-12/donald-trump-administration-pressing-charges-julian-assange/10995934

[Rhiannon12866]

9. And they are replaying all that footage over and over on every MSNBC show

Just saw it again for the 50th time. He apparently is unaware we have recordings of these things he says...

[Lithos]

3. Hmm

[Marcuse]

4. He's a connection between the campaign (via Stone) and the GRU.

He will need protective custody while testifying in Stone’s trial.

[DeminPennswoods]

5. Means prosecutors have something to trade

Assange for his cooperation in putting the last puzzle piece in place re:Russian interference and Trump campaign complicity.

[AdamGG]

6. Why did Ecuador choose to stop granting him asylum now?

The rationale that they were fed up with his discourteous behavior seems flimsy to me. If they granted him asylum for 7 years and then stopped, isn't it likely that some pressure/incentive was placed on them to stop? I think it's too early to predict who will benefit from his being taken into custody and how it was orchestrated. Right now, isn't Trump possibly the one who was most capable of pressuring Ecuador to act?

[JonLP24]

7. It means he can't be prosecuted over Russia if he is extradited

Can Julian Assange be charged with additional offences once he has been extradited to the United States?
Normal practice is that anyone extradited can only be prosecuted in the country that sought them for the offences specified on the extradition indictment. That restriction is known as the rule of specialty.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/11/everything-you-need-to-know-about-julian-assange

I think this is why Trump wants to extradite him now and over something the Obama DOJ refused to prosecute him over. Also to set a precedent in his war against the press.

[struggle4progress]

10. +

[AdamGG]

11. Yes, this is it

This explains why this is happening now, two weeks after the Mueller report has been completed. It's part of Trump's agenda and his administration are the ones who could pressure Ecuador to stop granting Assange asylum. It would be great if Assange's lawyers could delay his extradition from the UK until 2021, but probably, that's not likely.

[Baconator]

8. Not much...

If they were going to try to pressure Assange into 'giving up the goods' on Stone or Russian collaboration they would have charged him with more than a single low level felony.

That singular charge is the kind of crime that folks get supervised release and probabtion with no jail time for.

[TNLib]

12. It means he won't be playing a role in interfering in the 2020 elections

and I'm hoping wiki leaks will be defunct soon as well.