Two prosecutors involved in Julian Assange case argued against Espionage Act charges
By Devlin Barrett , Devlin Barrett Reporter focusing on national security and law enforcement Email Bio Follow Matt Zapotosky and Matt Zapotosky National security reporter covering the Justice Department Email Bio Follow Rachel Weiner Rachel Weiner Local reporter covering federal court in Alexandria, Va. and local court in Arlington and Alexandria.
In a sign of how seriously they took their task, one of the assistant U.S. attorneys asked to evaluate the case was James Trump, an aggressive veteran prosecutor with experience in intelligence leak matters.James Trump was part of the team that won criminal convictions in 2015 against former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, who was charged with leaking classified information to journalist James Risen.
A Justice Department official said James Trump, who was not part of the original investigative team, offered to remain on board in whatever capacity his supervisors wanted after delivering his opinion. It was determined he had significant other case work and the team could proceed without his assistance, the official said.
People familiar with the Assange case said that the Justice Department did not have significant evidence or facts beyond what the Obama-era officials had when they reviewed the case.On Thursday, senior Justice Department officials announced an 18-count indictment against Assange, accusing him of conspiring with former Army Pfc. Chelsea Manning in 2010 to obtain and disseminate secret government documents. The charges alarmed First Amendment experts, who called them a threat to press freedoms.
“It is a classic political offense. I have a difficult time seeing a British court departing so significantly from legal tradition and saying in this case they will make an exception,” said Semmelman. “The political offense exception as it has existed for probably 150 years has consistently maintained that for espionage charges, they are not extraditable. That’s just a classic principle of international extradition law.
Legal experts said the Assange charges suggest the Trump administration is trying to rewrite the legal balance between government secrecy and press freedom struck by the Supreme Court in the landmark 1971 case known as the Pentagon Papers.
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