Arrested April 11 and pulled out the Ecuadorian embassy in London kicking-and-screaming, 47-year-old, Australian-born WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange looked disheveled while London police removed him from the premises. What was most alarming was Assange’s appearance, looking like his hygiene vastly deteriorated. Reports from embassy officials indicate the once dapper-looking Assange was smearing his feces on the premises suggesting he’s grossly deteriorated, maybe psychotic. Making the extradition request, U.S. officials contend Assange tried to breach the security pass code in 2010 of a classified Defense Department computer working with 31-year-old transsexual former U.S. marine intelligence analyst Chelsea E. Manning AKA Bradley E. Manning. Assange received asylum at the Ecuador embassy in 2012 fleeing from Swedish authorities on a child molestation and rape charge.
Like 35-year-old former Booz Allen Hamilton employee Eric Snowden, Assange considers himself a hero for exposing government, corporate and individual corruption. When Snowden stole classified government secrets in 2013, he fled from Hawaii to Hong Kong, then flew to Moscow, receiving asylum from Russian President Vladimir Putin, some saw him as a whistleblower. Assange also has his backers believing that hacking into classified government computer systems was a necessary evil for a true journalist. But like Snowden, stealing classified material violates the sovereignty and privacy of governments, corporations and individuals. Assange, like Snowden, has always hid behind journalism, when in fact he’s a hacker looking to blackmail foreign governments, corporations or wealthy individuals. If extradited to the U.S., Assange faces up to five years in federal prison.
Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson says she’ll fight extradition on the basis that it sets a “dangerous precedent” for journalists “publishing truthful information about the United States.” Robinson completely ignores Assange’s attempt with Manning to break the pass code into a classified government computer. Assange began his career not as a journalist but a compute hacker, not working sources but stealing data from secure computer systems. Assange and Manning go back to 2010 when Manning stole 700,000 classified documents, videos and diplomatic cables before his arrest in 2010. Court- martialed and found guilty of espionage in 2013, Manning gave Assange much of her stolen material in 2010. Called at the time as “once of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the U.S., Manning’s heist and Assange’s help has eluded U.S. authorities.
Indicted in Virginia in 2013, the DOJ alleges that Assange conspired with Manning to publish one of the largest data breaches in U.S. history. Manning downloaded up to 700,000 files from the Defense Department before handing the material to Assange for eventual publication on WikiLeaks. If Assange succeeded in helping Manning to break the pass code on the classified government computer, it would have been difficult for the Defense Department to track the breach. Assange’s attorney wants to focus only the Assange-the-journalist, not Assange the criminal hacker, working with felons like Manning to harm U.S. national security. Ecuador’s new President Lenin Moreno simply had enough of Assange’s abuses while living under a diplomatic immunity agreement. Assange’s immunity deal forbade him from continuing to publish hacked or unauthorized material.
Moreno pointed out that Assange released confidential Vatican files back in January, clearly breaching his immunity agreement. “This and other publications have confirmed the world’s suspicion that Mr. Assange is still linked to WikiLeaks and therefore involved in interfering in internal affairs of other states,” Moreno said. Once Ecuador embassy staff confirmed that Assange was smearing feces on the property, Moreno had enough, yanking his diplomatic immunity. British Prime Minister Theresa May, embroiled in the Brexit debacle, said Assange could not hide from justice. “This goes to show that in the U.K. no one is above the law,” May said, showing little sympathy. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt echoed May’s views, saying it was “not acceptable” for Assange to “escape facing justice,” showing that May’s government was glad to get rid of him.
Assange has his backers for exposing atrocities in Afhanistan and Iraq, much to the embarrassment of the U.S. British Labour Leader Jermey Corbyn said Assange had revealed “evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan,” saying Assange’s extradition to the U.S. “should be opposed by the British government.” Corbyn’s statements on Assange speak volumes on why there’s such fierce opposition to Corbyn becoming prime minister. Corbyn knows that Assange lacks the integrity to be trusted for anything, including whistleblower-type information. Assange lied to Fox News Sean Hannity in an exclusive interview Jan 4, 2017, denying that he got the Democratic National Committee and John D. Podesta emails from Russia. Assange showed he can’t be trusted, especially when it comes to revealing his sources. Most press organizations back Assange, despite knowing he’s a hacker, not a journalist.