U.S. Attorney EDVA
Verified account @EDVAnews
42m42 minutes ago
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, charged in computer hacking conspiracy. Click here for copy of the indictment:
https://twitter.com/EDVAnews?lang=en
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Virginia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 11, 2019
WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Computer Hacking Conspiracy
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Julian P. Assange, 47, the founder of WikiLeaks, was arrested today in the United Kingdom pursuant to the U.S./UK Extradition Treaty, in connection with a federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified U.S. government computer.
According to court documents unsealed today, the charge relates to Assange’s alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.
The indictment alleges that in March 2010, Assange engaged in a conspiracy with Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, to assist Manning in cracking a password stored on U.S. Department of Defense computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet), a U.S. government network used for classified documents and communications. Manning, who had access to the computers in connection with her duties as an intelligence analyst, was using the computers to download classified records to transmit to WikiLeaks. Cracking the password would have allowed Manning to log on to the computers under a username that did not belong to her. Such a deceptive measure would have made it more difficult for investigators to determine the source of the illegal disclosures.
During the conspiracy, Manning and Assange engaged in real-time discussions regarding Manning’s transmission of classified records to Assange. The discussions also reflect Assange actively encouraging Manning to provide more information. During an exchange, Manning told Assange that “after this upload, that’s all I really have got left.” To which Assange replied, “curious eyes never run dry in my experience.”
Assange is charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the charges were unsealed. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Doherty-McCormick, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kellen S. Dwyer, Thomas W. Traxler and Gordon D. Kromberg, and Trial Attorneys Matthew R. Walczewski and Nicholas O. Hunter of the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case.
The extradition will be handled by the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:18-cr-111.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr...ing-conspiracy
Paula Slier
@PaulaSlier_RT
1m1 minute ago
#Breaking: Julian #Assange has pleaded not guilty to failing to surrender to bail.
The #WikiLeaks founder was arrested by #British police for the bail breach, and following a #US extradition request on charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion with Chelsea #Manning.
teleSUR English
@telesurenglish
2m2 minutes ago
#BREAKING | #Assange faces a maximum prison sentence of five years, the Justice Department said in a statement. #LeninMoreno #Ecuador #WikiLeaks
Gore Vidal’s ‘Security State’ Book: Why Is Julian Assange Carrying It?
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- Updated Apr 11, 2019 at 11:35am
Getty American novelist and playwright Gore Vidal, during an interview with Melvyn Bragg for the television programme 'The South Bank Show'.
Gore Vidal’s “History of the National Security State” was in Julian Assange’s hands as he was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London on April 11.
Assange, 47, had been in exile in the embassy since August 2012. The founder of Wikileaks had his asylum status withdrawn by the Ecuadorian government, which led to his arrest. Assange will be extradited to the United StatesAssange is accused by the Department of Justice of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified U.S. government computer. Assange’s legal team has promised to fight the extradition.
As Assange was removed from the embassy, a copy of Vidal’s 2014 book could be seen in Assange’s hands. The book is transcribed conversations that Paul Jay, the editor of The Real News Network. Those conversations occurred in 2007.
Vidal passed away in July 2012 at the age of 86. Coincidentally, Assange took up residence in the Ecuadorian embassy in August 2012.
During the conversations, Vidal discussed the events in U.S. History that he believes led to what he calls the “Imperial Presidency.” Among the quotes from the book, via GoodReads:
The Federalist Papers are very clear. Whenever one of the founding fathers and one of the people who was inventing the Constitution, they start to get apoplectic at the mention of Athens, the mention of Pericles, the mention of democracy. They go on and on about mobs, and we don’t want this, and we don’t want that. We’re an oligarchy of the well-to-do. We were at the very beginning when the Constitution was made, and we’re even more so now.
I’m not joking when I refer to our country as the United States of Amnesia, although I was corrected recently by Studs Terkel out of Chicago. And he said, “Gore, it’s not the United States of Amnesia; it’s the United States of Alzheimer’s.” I stand corrected.
I was born eighty years ago in a country called the United States of America and now I live in a Homeland—an expression we haven’t heard since Hitler.
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