The Assange Affair: What Is Trump’s Endgame?
DIARY / davenj1 //
Posted at 11:45 am on March 1, 2020 by davenj1 There is currently a drama unfolding in a courtroom across the ocean in Great Britain. It is the extradition trial of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He would be handed over to US authorities if he loses his extradition trial where he is wanted on charges of “endangering national security.†The specifics of the charges are unknown; we do not know if this goes back to the Bradley “Call Me Chelsea†Manning leaks, or if it involves later leaks from an anonymous source that revealed technical abilities of the intelligence community apparatus. Standing in the middle is, of course, WikiLeaks publishing the DNC emails during the 2016 US presidential campaign. Regardless, the possibility of a 175-year prison sentence hangs over the head of Assange.
Assange is a polarizing figure and whether he is seen as a hero or a villain depends on the information being released through his organization, WikiLeaks. With the Manning tranche of leaks, these were items that were embarrassing to the United States and some of our allies involving leaked diplomatic cables and certain actions in Afghanistan and Iraq that some consider “war crimes†(not this author). More disturbing was the release of information describing US electronic intelligence efforts in the war on terrorism. Although likely setting back those efforts when released, the IC’s technical apparatus is smart enough to adjust to those revelations.
As for the DNC email release, Trump should be singing the praises of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. In fact, he did during the 2016 campaign. On the trail, Trump referred to Hillary Clinton as “crooked†and the election as “rigged.†The crookedness part did not only deal with her own specific email problem, the Clinton Foundation and other assorted sundry Clinton scandals. And he made as much reference to a “rigged†general election as he did to the Democrat nomination process where he often cast Bernie Sanders as the victim of that rigging, with Clinton pulling the strings. The WikiLeaks releases pretty much confirmed that observation.
<..snip..>
https://www.redstate.com/diary/davenj1/2020/03/01/790847/
