WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will not be charged by the Justice Department for exposing spying on behalf of the U.S. government through a CIA leak, surprising U.S. national security chiefs and former officials, according to Politico sources.
The U.S. government is seeking 17 counts against Assange for violating the Espionage Act and one count of helping Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning hack military computers.
But Politico cited two main reasons for the lack of further charges:
- Extraditing Assange from the United Kingdom to the U.S. is difficult and a 60-day window is closing.
- More U.S. secrets might be exposed in court proceedings.
"There is no question that there are leak cases that can't be prosecuted against the leaker or the leakee because the information is so sensitive that, for your proof at trial, you would have to confirm it is authentic," former Justice Department official Mary McCord told Politico. "So the irony, often, is that the higher the classification of the leaked material, the harder it is to prosecute."
Assange will likely argue he holds First Amendment protection rights, though the feds will argue he does not qualify as a journalist and ignored national security warnings and objections to reveal U.S. secrets, per the report.
"There is a comfort level within the national security establishment of where the charges ended up," a national security official told Politico.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.