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Donald Trump on US charging Julian Assange: 'It's OK with me'
UK Independent | April 22, 2017 | Andrew Buncombe

Posted on 04/22/2017 2:13:05 AM PDT by Pinkbell

Link only per guidelines:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-julian-assange-wikileaks-response-a7696326.html


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: assange; trump; wiki; wikileaks
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To: Pinkbell

“Donald Trump on US charging Julian Assange: ‘It’s OK with me”

Lots of fake news these days designed to rile up Trump supporters. Lets see absolute verification that Trump actually said it in this exact way.


21 posted on 04/22/2017 5:34:03 AM PDT by ScottfromNJ
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To: ScottfromNJ

According to the article it’s a quote from his AP interview. Sessions and Pompeo are out there talking about it. Why would he have them talking about something he doesn’t support?


22 posted on 04/22/2017 5:37:47 AM PDT by Pinkbell (Hillary's Russia Ties - http://dtforpres.blogspot.com/2016/09/hillary-clinton-and-democrats-have.htm)
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To: kabar

But what do you charge him with he isn’t a US citizen?
Receiver of stolen goods - US property perhaps?

I see now its claimed that WikiLeaks “tasked” Manning and Assange will be indicted on that claim. So are we then going to indict the head of intelligence services from Russia’s FSB to Zambia’s (Don’t know its name but I am sure it has one!)? They task all their case officers to go after US secrets. That doesn’t seem logical either!


23 posted on 04/22/2017 5:59:49 AM PDT by Reily
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To: Pinkbell

I want to be completely un-biased here.

What exactly would he be charged with? I do not recall him directly anyone to spy. Documents were sent to him. No crime was committed by him on U.S. soil. I also recall him working WITH U.S. Media. With that said, allow me to put on my conspiracy hat for a moment...

For the last many years, Assange has been stuck at a Central American embassy, and although wanted on ‘serious’ charges, no government has managed to pry him from the hands of Ecuador. Think about that for a minute. How much pressure could be applied from Great Britain and/or the U.S. to that small, poor country to apprehend Assange?

What am I saying? If we wanted Assange, we could have grabbed him and any moment in the past. Why now?

Anything to do with the recent election in Ecuador?

Just my $0.02


24 posted on 04/22/2017 6:01:51 AM PDT by jimjohn (This battle is over, but the war to rebuild the America has just begun.)
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To: Pinkbell

The question for me is, has anything Assange released inaccurate? I believe the answer is no making him a more reliable news source than the MSM.


25 posted on 04/22/2017 6:03:28 AM PDT by JonPreston
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To: Pinkbell

Does ASSANGE have a MOAL (Mother of all Leaks) in his WIKI arsonell?


26 posted on 04/22/2017 6:12:55 AM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Psalm 33:12)
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To: kabar

Sorry but you are as wrong as can be. ANYONE who exposes government corruption is a hero.Maybe with a little”h” but still a hero for truth. And the U.S. government has been getting more and more corrupt as those arrogant careerists build their hidden empires.

Trump is certainly much better than the Democrat party leaders and most of the RINOs but he has some ideas that are of concern to freedom loving constitutionalists.


27 posted on 04/22/2017 6:23:05 AM PDT by hoosierham (Freedom isn't free)
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To: newfreep

Maybe they will offer him a plea deal?


28 posted on 04/22/2017 6:25:38 AM PDT by hsmomx3
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To: Reily
But what do you charge him with he isn’t a US citizen? Receiver of stolen goods - US property perhaps?

First, does anyone dispute that Wikileaks has done irreparable damage to our national security with the release of the Manning documents and now the CIA data on how they hack various targets? Forget the hacking of the DNC and Podesta (probably an inside job by a Bernie supporter), there has been significant damage done to our national security by Assange. As someone who has worked for federal government for 36 years, both in the military and as a civilian, and held some of the highest security clearances, I am disappointed by the reactions of many of the posters on this thread who see Assange as some kind of hero. He is not.

From the NYT:

"But the official said prosecutors were skeptical that they could pursue the most serious charges, of espionage, with regard to the documents Mr. Assange disclosed years ago with the help of an Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning. Ms. Manning was convicted and sent to prison, but President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in January."

"A lesser charge could be theft of government documents, but the official said prosecutors wanted, ideally, to pursue more serious counts against Mr. Assange, who has sought refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden on accusations of rape."

29 posted on 04/22/2017 6:30:18 AM PDT by kabar
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To: JonPreston

“I believe the answer is no making him a more reliable news source than the MSM.”

I agree, and look at Assange as a check on the government, not a spy.

This will hurt Trump with Millennials, who are just beginning to warm to him...


30 posted on 04/22/2017 6:34:09 AM PDT by Bshaw (A nefarious deceit is upon us all!)
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To: JonPreston

The Honolulu Advertiser page with Obama’s birth announcement was a C&P published by Wikileaks.

Other than that, it seems like what they’ve published is accurate.

Leave it to Obama’s pals to “leak” a document that is an obvious fake, of something that should be publicly accessible at any time anyway. How do you call it a “leak” if it’s a document supposedly available in 5 libraries throughout the country? There was no reason for that to be “leaked”, unless it was the leak of a document secretly created by the government - a document OTHER THAN the one already publicly available.

If that is what the Honolulu Advertiser “leak” was, then even that would be accurate; it was a leak of a government-created C&P document.


31 posted on 04/22/2017 6:37:21 AM PDT by butterdezillion
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To: kabar

I agree with you!
But foreign nationals are not subject to our laws.

I have said from Day 1 regarding Assange that Assange is fundamentally an anarchist. The WikiLeaks release of the DNC, Podesta , etc documents during the election is or was a temporary alignment of our “interests” with Assange’s “interests”. It will not continue.


32 posted on 04/22/2017 6:39:00 AM PDT by Reily
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To: hoosierham
Sorry but you are as wrong as can be. ANYONE who exposes government corruption is a hero.Maybe with a little”h” but still a hero for truth. And the U.S. government has been getting more and more corrupt as those arrogant careerists build their hidden empires.

See my post #29. You don't seem to understand the substance of what Manning, Snowden, and Assange, leaked. It is far more than about government corruption. It is about revealing sources and methods. It is about revealing confidential discussions between American diplomats and foreign leaders and legislators. People's lives are being put on the line as well as drying up sources for US intelligence.

Are you just as praiseworthy of the leakers of Flynn's name and others? Or the leakers of Trump's conversations with the President of Mexico and the PM of Australia?

33 posted on 04/22/2017 6:43:02 AM PDT by kabar
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To: Glad2bnuts

“Assange is a hero like all whistleblowers, they need medals not jail cells.”

I tend to agree. Woodward & Bernstien are heros of the left - Assange should be a hero of the right, but apparently, we eat our own.

I can see why Trump would want to avoid openly defending Assange while these bogus accusations of a Trump/Assange/Russians election interference are still “fresh”.

I hope it’s just words though and that he doesn’t actually go after Assange - he should go after the leftists that Assange has exposed.


34 posted on 04/22/2017 6:46:26 AM PDT by enumerated
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To: Reily
But foreign nationals are not subject to our laws.

Oh really? So anyone can come into the US and spy on us? Why do you think Lucifer was sent back to the US for trial? Foreign nationals are subject to our laws, which is why we have extradition treaties. One third of our federal prison population is filled with foreign nationals.

35 posted on 04/22/2017 6:47:34 AM PDT by kabar
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To: kabar

Manning was “acquitted of aiding the enemy”. Assange is like the Slimes and WaPo but more truthful.


36 posted on 04/22/2017 6:51:29 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: kabar

Ok let me be more precise foreign national in foreign countries are not subject to our laws. Assange as far as I know has not been in the USA. If he has “agents” who accept material for him, then they would be subject to our laws.

Lucifer was sent back to the USA for trial?????


37 posted on 04/22/2017 6:58:32 AM PDT by Reily
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To: Pinkbell

I think the whole idea of prosecuting him or even attempting to his stupid political theater. He is not a US citizen and by all accounts everything he did was outside the United States. He did not steal anything, he was under no obligation to any time to protect American secrets. All he did was, unfortunately for us, was to publish them. our complaint is and should be with the people who stalled the secrets, who committed treason against us, those are the people that we should find, try, and execute. Otherwise, if we are going to attempt to prosecute him for publishing what he received, then we must equally pursue all of the media sites, and even bloggers, and those of us here on Effar who published what he received. That obviously is not going to happen. Which proves my point, this is simply a political show.


38 posted on 04/22/2017 7:17:26 AM PDT by Reno89519 (Drain the Swamp is not party specific. Lyn' Ted is still a liar, Good riddance to him.)
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To: Paladin2
Manning was “acquitted of aiding the enemy”.

Manning was tried and convicted by court-martial in July 2013, of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified, or unclassified but sensitive, military and diplomatic documents. Manning was sentenced in August 2013 to 35 yeas but pursuant to a commutation by President Obama, is scheduled to be released on May 17, 2017.

Manning was ultimately charged with 22 specified offenses, including communicating national defense information to an unauthorized source, and the most serious of the charges, aiding the enemy. Other charges included violations of the Espionage Act, stealing U.S. government property, charges under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and charges related to the failure to obey lawful general orders under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Manning entered guilty pleas to 10 of 22 specified offenses in February 2013.

The trial on the 12 remaining charges began on June 3, 2013. It went to the judge on July 26, 2013, and findings were rendered on July 30. Manning was acquitted of the most serious charge, that of aiding the enemy, for giving secrets to WikiLeaks. In addition to five or six espionage counts, Manning was also found guilty of five theft specifications, two computer fraud specifications and multiple military infractions.

Do you agree with Obama's commutation of his sentence?

39 posted on 04/22/2017 7:37:49 AM PDT by kabar
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To: Reily
Ok let me be more precise foreign national in foreign countries are not subject to our laws.

Again, you are totally wrong. We prosecute foreign nationals all the time for violating our laws even if they are overseas. It could be banking laws, espionage, terrorism, etc. This is why we extradite people to the US for trial. Do you think Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is not subject to our laws? What about the prisoners in Gitmo? Or Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán? Or Noriega? Extraterritorial jurisdiction is a tenet of international law.

Lucifer was sent back to the USA for trial?????

Guccifer.

Hacker 'Guccifer' extradited from Romania, appears in U.S. court

40 posted on 04/22/2017 7:58:10 AM PDT by kabar
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