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💥Seems fitting #Russia’s #propaganda media RT gets the creepy video scoop of #WikiLeaks founder Julian #Assange's arrest in London after Ecuador withdrew his asylum. Police forcibly removed the bearded man from the Embassy building he’s been in since 2012
💥UPDATE: #Wikileaks founder Julian #Assange “has been further arrested in relation to an extradition warrant on behalf of the United States authorities. He remains in custody at a central London police station.” via @metpoliceuk news.met.police.uk/news/update-ar… 
#Russia calls #Wikileaks’ #Assange “the throat of freedom.” @jimsciutto notes he’s wanted by 3 govts & he’s a central witness to Russian interference in US election. 🤔Q: How is Mueller investigation over if a central witness is just being extradited to US?
An #Assange pardon would be quite the plot twist. Not long ago Congressman Rohrabacher recruited Senator Rand Paul to bring Trump “evidence” from #Wikileaks to “exonerate” Russia in election interference. Kelly stopped them. Who’s in the WH to do that now?
#Assange indictment unsealed today only charges the #Wikileaks founder with one count of conspiracy connected to computer hacking in 2010 Chelsea Manning case. Link to indictment is below. CNN is reporting that DOJ expects MORE charges to be filed.
“It’s a conspiracy to commit journalism”—#Wikileaks editor just said. #Assange lawyer says indictment sets a dangerous precedent for media. But US hasn’t charged him for document publication, but with computer hacking conspiracy.
Indicting #Assange worries some given Trump's war on the press. But he's accused of doing something journalists don't do. He's charged with helping Manning crack a password to hack into computers. His lawyers will say it's a pretext. But it's significantly distinct conduct.
The rest of today's #Assange THREAD is below, including a link to the indictment of the #Wikileaks founder & leader, unsealed today in US Federal Court. He's charged with a single conspiracy to hack computers with Chelsea Manning in 2010. Reports are DOJ expects more charges.
Indicting #Assange is more complicated under Trump who has no regard for the press or journalism. But #Wikileaks didn't even edit to protect lives. Putin used those cables to smear democratic opposition as traitors, esp Boris Nemtsov—assassinated in 2015.
Arguably, #Assange helped bolster Putin's power in 2010 by providing raw State Dept cables that the Kremlin distorted for propaganda. That ammunition eventually became real bullets that killed Putin critic Boris Nemtsov, smeared as a spy thx to #Wikileaks.
Maybe #Wikileaks 2010 dumps constituted journalism & only collaterally helped Putin & harmed Kremlin opponents in Russia and out. By 2016, after #Assange's actions in our election, it's journalism that's collateral—even pretextual—to political work of helping Putin & harming US.
Like Putin used Wikileaks for propaganda against opponents, Trump used #Wikileaks to drum propaganda against Hillary, as crooked, dishonest & criminal. WHILE Russia was doing the same, disguising it as Americans. It was all a blur in the fog of information war. Look at his tweets
😒After using Wikileaks daily to distort innocuous emails into something nefarious, painting Clinton as crooked & the election as rigged—while he & Russia were actually rigging our election‼️ to install a Putin puppet, Trump's like Wikileaks who?—"I know nothing about Wikileaks"
Notice Russian media slamming #Assange arrest as an affront to press freedom—absurd on its face given Kremlin control of info. The Kremlin wants free rein to use journalism as cover for propaganda & aggression around the world. Indicting these agents starts to unravel their game.
Contrary to Russian propaganda, Julian #Assange is no free-press hero. Unlike real journalists, #WikiLeaks dumped material into the public domain without any effort independently to verify its factuality or give named individuals an opportunity to comment. washingtonpost.com/opinions/julia…
