Why Is Assange Helping Trump?

It was pretty difficult getting hold of Abu Omar too, at least legally.

Sabrina De Sousa,

how successful has that been

Abu Omar was directly involved with al Qaeda and rounded up during the war fever. Assange is a gadfly.

Dual citizen of the US and being sent back from Portugal after a Judaical process she and her lawyers participated in.

how successful has that been

US officials had no comment on the disclosure in the document about a sealed indictment of Assange. It is unclear what charges Assange faces.

But Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office which filed the document that was unsealed, told Reuters, "The court filing was made in error. That was not the intended name for this filing."

Prosecutors sought to keep the charges confidential until after Assange's arrest, the document shows, saying the move was essential to ensure he did not evade or avoid arrest and extradition in the case.

Any procedure "short of sealing will not adequately protect the needs of law enforcement at this time because, due to the sophistication of the defendant, and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged," the document reads.

It adds, "The complaint, supporting affidavit, and arrest warrant, as well as this motion and the proposed order, would need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter."

US officials have previously acknowledged that federal prosecutors based in Alexandria have been conducting a lengthy criminal investigation into WikiLeaks and its founder.

Representatives of the US administration of President Donald Trump, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have publicly called for Assange to be aggressively prosecuted.

Assange and his supporters have periodically said US authorities had filed secret criminal charges against him, an assertion against which some US officials pushed back until recently.

Facing extradition from Britain to Sweden to be questioned in a sexual molestation case, Assange six years ago took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy, where initially he was treated as a welcome guest.

But following a change in the government of the south American nation, Ecuadorean authorities last March began to crack down on his access to outsiders and for a time cut off his internet access.