11/16/2018

CIVIL RIGHTS/LEGAL/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Apparent criminal charges against Julian Assange are thrusting the WikiLeaks founder back into American politics — a development that could create awkwardness across the political spectrum. Many liberals and civil rights activists have defended Assange as a journalist entitled to First Amendment protections. Conservatives have celebrated him for exposing Hillary Clinton’s emails in 2016. And President Donald Trump, who declared his ‘love’ for Assange’s website during the 2016 contest, may have new concerns about whether the focus on Assange has a connection to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. For now, the details remain murky about what U.S. law Assange, an Australian national holed up in a London embassy, has even been charged with violating. An unrelated federal court filing discovered late Thursday [11-15-18] appears to have accidentally mentioned Assange but doesn’t explain whether the sealed charges deal with WikiLeaks’ publication of stolen Democratic documents to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign or another matter that has also triggered notice from U.S. prosecutors.”

Darren Samuelsohn, Josh Gerstein and Matthew Choi, “Assange charges could unsettle liberals, conservatives — and Trump,” Politico, November 16, 2018 2:30 pm