Posted on 06/02/2019 5:15:18 PM PDT by Libloather
The Justice Department has decided not to charge Julian Assange for his role in exposing some of the CIAs most secret spying tools, according to a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the case.
Its a move that has surprised national security experts and some former officials, given prosecutors recent decision to aggressively go after the WikiLeaks founder on more controversial Espionage Act charges that some legal experts said would not hold up in court. The decision also means that Assange will not face punishment for publishing one of the CIAs most potent arsenals of digital code used to hack devices, dubbed Vault 7. The leak one of the most devastating in CIA history not only essentially rendered those tools useless for the CIA, it gave foreign spies and rogue hackers access to them.
Prosecutors were stymied by several factors.
First, the government is facing a ticking clock in its efforts to extradite Assange to the United States from the United Kingdom, where he is being held. Extradition laws require the U.S. to bring any additional charges against Assange within 60 days of the first indictment, which prosecutors filed in March, accusing Assange of helping former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning hack into military computers.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
True that!
Maybe he’s not being charged because now he’s a cooperating witness.
GOOD - HOPE - BUT...
That sounds logical. Thanks
Maybe hes not being charged because now hes a cooperating witness.
Barr needs him to go after the treasonous individuals.
This could get even more interesting.
SUCK ON IT, CIA..!
You mean the same code the CIA has been using to spy on Americans
illegally.
Or they think they already have enough to imprison him for the rest of his life. The only reason to go for more is to keep an appeals judge from releasing him on his only charges.
I thought that time limits regarding “speedy trial”,”indictment”,etc,etc were put on hold when the individual in question is a fugitive.
I honestly still don’t know how to view Assange. I won’t pretend that I do know.
I hear comments from both sides.
Some would say this latest move by the DOJ gives the appearance that leaking highly classified information is no longer a punishable crime.
Bradley Manning is waiting for his (second) ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ phone call. Now more hopeful than ever!
They still must bring him here.
That face. The face of an old 50’s G-Man.
Except Brennan is a Communist traitor.
He should have been purged long ago.
Instead of the Super Bowl, I want to tune in to his Spandau Ballet moment.
I want to have a big party, and do the Obama “oh damn!” when he drops 6’4”.
But the time limits described here are for extradition ... which means theyre set up under the other countrys laws, not ours.
That may be what Bill Barr and The POTUS are going to do. They know the facts, they have all of the intel. Lets see what happens.
Yes, but this was the only charge that was really likely to stick. The others will almost certainly never hold up under U.S. law due to precedent under prior First Amendment cases.
... former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning
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