Are espionage charges against Assange meant to warn against publishing unredacted Mueller Report?

[sop]

3. Maybe Trump and Putin want to silence Assange

Last edited Sat May 25, 2019, 02:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Keep him from talking about receiving intelligence from the Kremlin, his coordination with Roger Stone (and others) and Wikileaks' involvement in the 2016 election. With Barr in charge at the DOJ, they can do whatever they want with Assange, and make sure he never sees the light of day in a Supermax. They won't cut him up with a bone saw, but he'll never speak publicly again.

I'm always in favor of First Amendment rights, and generally support whistleblower protections, but Assange is such an unsavory character, it makes defending him difficult. He's not exactly the poster boy for freedom of speech, he's no Daniel Ellsberg. Still, it's obvious the administration is sending a message to future leakers, particularly anyone at the FBI or the IRS who might anonymously send a stack of interesting documents to the NYT or WaPo.