Thread by @kurteichenwald

1. Plenty of folks are arguing about Assange arrest & 1st Amend. Even @HuntsmanAbby and @MeghanMcCain got into a big argument about it on @TheView, with McCain saying Obama/Holder made stupid arguments about 1st Amend re: Assange.

I wish people read indictments before opining...

@HuntsmanAbby @MeghanMcCain @TheView 2...if Chelsea Manning had handed me all the same documents that went to Assange, and I published them, I would have committed no crime. Journalists can publish anything they receive, within their judgment of propriety.

Same with Assange. That is why his indictment had nothing..

@HuntsmanAbby @MeghanMcCain @TheView 3...to do with that.

According to the indictment, Assange aided Manning in obtaining the classified documents by hacking a password protected file. Journalists cannot even advise or suggest to leakers that they should break the law. ACTIVELY assisting in that effort is a crime..

@HuntsmanAbby @MeghanMcCain @TheView 4...the main charges against Assange have to do with the hacking. Once you get there, you end up with conspiracy. And once you get there, the disclosure itself can be deemed an overt act of the unlawful conspiracy, although that argument is not in the indictment. Yet.

This is...

@HuntsmanAbby @MeghanMcCain @TheView 5...not even a close call. If Assange hacked a password protected government site for the purpose of allowing someone to gain access to classified information with the knowledge he would receive it, he is no longer acting as a journalist. He is a criminal.

Now, if Assange....

@HuntsmanAbby @MeghanMcCain @TheView 6...did do this, it is devastating for Wikileaks. If Assange was willing to be part of an active conspiracy to commit a crime to obtained classified documents and disclose them, that completely obliterates what he claimed Wikileaks was. It would not be an outlet for.....

@HuntsmanAbby @MeghanMcCain @TheView 7...whistleblowers. It would be an active participant in criminal activity.

Because, if the indictment is true, it is not even a close call, and because the indictment was filed under seal in 2018, there is no doubt that the evidence suggesting Assange had hacked a password....

@HuntsmanAbby @MeghanMcCain @TheView 8...protected classified site was developed in recent years. It is certainly not something easy to determine. So the "why didn't Obama/Holder bring indictments? First Amendment argument is bogus" are arguments of people who dont know the law and haven't read the indictment....

@HuntsmanAbby @MeghanMcCain @TheView 9...We already know that Assange is an arrogant piece of garbage who is willing to aid in an attack on democracy for his own perceived benefit. If this indictment is correct, we have now discovered he is no journalist - he is a criminal.

@HuntsmanAbby @MeghanMcCain @TheView (btw, people asking why I am watching the view. Im not. Saw an article.) rawstory.com/2019/04/views-…