Thread by @ZoeTillman

NEWS: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in the UK, and UK authorities have confirmed he's also been arrested by the United States and is facing extradition buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/…

From Assange's US lawyer Barry Pollack: "The UK courts will need to resolve what appears to be an unprecedented effort by the United States seeking to extradite a foreign journalist to face criminal charges for publishing truthful information." buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/…

NEW: Julian Assange has been charged with conspiring with Chelsea Manning to leak classified information. A grand jury indicted him in *March 2018* in federal court in Virginia. Indictment: documentcloud.org/documents/5816… Story: buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/…

Here's what the government alleges Assange did as part of the charged conspiracy:
- communicated with Chelsea Manning to "collaborate" on getting/sharing classified info
- entered into an agreement with Manning to try to "crack" a password on DoD computers buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/…

Expect fierce debate, in and out of court, about whether Assange should be shielded from prosecution as a journalist. The government here is arguing he wasn't a passive recipient, but rather an active participant in accessing classified info along with Manning

Another immediate question is: What happens to Chelsea Manning? She's been in jail for more than a month after refusing to testify before a grand jury about the 2010 WikiLeaks leaks buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Follow @MarkDiStef for updates on Julian Assange's first court appearance in the UK

https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/1116338217639383041

Update: A DOJ spox says the department does not plan to release any additional information today about Julian Assange.

What this means: There is reporting by CNN that more charges are coming, but we do not expect any official info about that today buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/…