WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange charged with violating Espionage Act
Source: Washington Post
Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of violating the Espionage Act, bringing against him a new, 18-count indictment alleging he unlawfully obtained and disclosed national defense information. The new charges dramatically raise the stakes of the case both for Assange and the news media, raising questions about the limits of the First Amendment and protections for publishers of classified information. Prosecutors allege Assange worked with a former Army intelligence analyst to obtain and disseminate classified information — conduct of which many traditional reporters might also be accused. The U.S. government, though, sought to distinguish the anti-secrecy advocate from a traditional reporter.
“Julian Assange is no journalist,” said John Demers, the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for National Security. He said Assange engaged in “explicit solicitation of classified information.”
Assange was previously indicted by a U.S. grand jury over his interactions in 2010 with Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who shared hundreds of thousands of classified war logs and diplomatic papers with WikiLeaks. If convicted, Assange faced a maximum of five years in prison under that conspiracy charge. Each alleged violation of the Espionage Act carries a potential ten-year prison sentence. But the new charges against Assange carry potential consequences not just for him, but for others who publish classified information, and could change the delicate balance in U.S. law between press freedom and government secrecy. They also raises fresh questions about whether the British courts will view the new charges as justified and worthy of extradition.
Prosecutors alleged in the new indictment that Assange and WikiLeaks “repeatedly encouraged sources with access to classified information to steal it” and give it to the anti-secrecy organization, posting on its website a “most wanted” list for leaks organized by country and saying the documents must be “likely to have political, diplomatic, ethical or historical impact on release.” They alleged that Manning responded to that clarion call, downloading nearly four completely government databases of war reports, Guantanamo Bay detainee assessments and State Department cables and turned them over to WikiLeaks.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-charged-with-violating-espionage-act/2019/05/23/42a2c6cc-7d6a-11e9-a5b3-34f3edf1351e_story.html
Original article and headline -
By Washington Post Staff
May 23 at 3:58 PM
Assange, 47, remains jailed in London following his April eviction from the Ecuadoran Embassy. Assange, who already faced a conspiracy charge in connection with the 2010 leak of diplomatic cables and military documents that WikiLeaks published, has vowed to fight any effort to extradite him to the United States.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2019/05/23/wikileaks-julian-assange-charged-with-violating-espionage-act-u-s-officials-say-in-case-that-could-test-first-amendment-rights/?utm_term=.a06f5e6aa04f
= new reply since forum marked as read
previously?
and your comment, yes 
Has changed to any significant degree since it was committed in 2011, hence my assumption as to the point you were making.
But if that's not what you meant, cool.
Leaked Dem documents in order to aid Trump only to be told "Go away! I never knew you!" now that the job is done.
Betrayal really blows, eh Jules?
That tweet sums it up!
I had a thought come to mind that Wikileaks might have all sorts of dirt on the GOP too but has chosen not to publish it. Will be interesting to see if that is his failsafe...
if they're such hackers?
But, Assange wanted the gop.. so here we are.
One would think he might have mentioned that to them Before they charged him with espionage.
he might have wanted to wait to see what they would attempt to charge him with before he dropped the hint. I would think that he wouldn't blow his whole wad right away. 
Who knows what a slimeball like Assange, who smeared Seth Rich to help the Russians, is thinking?
Ray Flowers was replaced with a woman in the movie. Kathy Bates played her, but don't recall that character's name.
Definitely a book you remember. It took me awhile to stop spelling everything, M-O-O-N.
