I watched the interview on 60 Minutes. The key thing which I thought was interesting...Assange believes in Manning’s innocence based on ‘political motivation’. Never does he grasp that there is a general order given by the military on the non-release of any classified material. As far as Assange was concerned....you could turn on anyone, for any reason...and violate a trust.
Manning clearly violated the law and, IMO, should be executed for treason.
I’m not at all sure if Assange has violated the law, though.