pretty melodramatic for my tastes - “the next time you hear from him, he will be in jail or dead” - very theatrical.
I agree. What sways me the most is calling out the WikiLeaks tweets, the source of these rumors, for what they are: SHA256 hashes to verify file integrity, and for the names associated with the hashes: John Kerry, Ecuador, UK FCO. The implication from WikiLeaks itself is that Assange does not feel secure, he believes the US via Kerry is applying pressure to Ecuador. The question now is has Ecuador caved?