Assange tried to call White House, Hillary Clinton over data dump, his lawyer says

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) – Julian Assange tried to contact Hillary Clinton and the White House when he realized that unredacted U.S. diplomatic cables given to WikiLeaks were about to be dumped on the internet, his lawyer told his London extradition hearing on Tuesday.

Assange is being sought by the United States on 18 counts of hacking U.S. government computers and an espionage offense, having allegedly conspired with Chelsea Manning, then a U.S. soldier known as Bradley Manning, to leak hundreds of thousands of secret documents by WikiLeaks almost a decade ago.

On Monday, the lawyer representing the United States told the hearing that Assange, 48, was wanted for crimes that had endangered people in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan who had helped the West, some of whom later disappeared.

U.S. authorities say his actions in recklessly publishing unredacted classified diplomatic cables put informants, dissidents, journalists and human rights activists at risk of torture, abuse or death.

Outlining part of his defense, Assange’s lawyer Mark Summers said allegations that he had helped Manning to break a government password, had encouraged the theft of secret data and knowingly put lives in danger were “lies, lies and more lies”.

He told London’s Woolwich Crown Court that WikiLeaks had received documents from Manning in April 2010. He then made a deal with a number of newspapers, including the New York Times, Britain’s Guardian and Germany’s Der Spiegel, to begin releasing redacted parts of the 250,000 cables in November that year.

A witness from Der Spiegel said the U.S. State Department had been involved in suggesting redactions in conference calls, Summers said.

However, a password that allowed access to the full unredacted material was published in a book by a Guardian reporter about WikiLeaks in February 2011. In August, another German newspaper reported it had discovered the password and it had access to the archive.

PEOPLE’S LIVES “AT RISK”

Summers said Assange attempted to warn the U.S. government, calling the White House and attempting to speak to then- Secretary of State Clinton, saying “unless we do something, people’s lives are put at risk”.

Summers said the State Department had responded by suggesting that Assange call back “in a couple of hours”.

The United States asked Britain to extradite Assange last year after he was pulled from the Ecuador embassy in London, where he had spent seven years holed up avoiding extradition to Sweden over sex crime allegations which have since been dropped.

Assange has served a prison sentence in Britain for skipping bail and remains jailed pending the U.S. extradition request

Supporters hail Assange as an anti-establishment hero who revealed governments’ abuses of power, and argue the action against him is a dangerous infringement of journalists’ rights. Critics cast him as a dangerous enemy of the state who has undermined Western security.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Gareth Jones)

I’ve protected many, Assange tells UK court as he fights U.S. extradition warrant

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a London court on Thursday his work had protected “many people” and refused to agree to be extradited to the United States to face trial for one of the largest compromises of classified information in history.

The United States has requested the extradition of Assange, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on April 11, and has charged him with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion which carries a maximum penalty of five years.

Asked at a preliminary hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court whether he agreed to be extradited to the United States, Assange, appearing via a video link from a British prison, said: “I do not wish to surrender for extradition. I’m a journalist winning many, many awards and protecting many people.”

Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.

To some, Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech. To others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined U.S. security.

On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison by a British court for skipping bail after fleeing to Ecuador’s Embassy in London, where he remained for seven years until police dragged him out last month.

Assange had sought refuge in the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face an allegation of rape, which he denies, saying he feared he would be sent to the United States to face action over the WikiLeaks’ release of classified U.S. diplomatic cables.

Hours after his arrest last month, U.S. prosecutors said they had charged Assange with conspiracy in trying to access a classified U.S. government computer.

“The charge relates to one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States,” said Ben Brandon, the lawyer representing the United States.

He said in early 2010, former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning had downloaded 90,000 activity reports relating to the Afghan war, 400,000 relating to the conflict in Iraq, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs and 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables.

The vast majority of these were later released on WikiLeaks.

“NOT ABOUT HACKING”

There were computer room chats showing real-time discussions between Manning and Assange over cracking a password to gain access to classified U.S. documents and the public release of the information, Brandon said.

“Despite what you heard from the prosecutor in the courtroom today, this case is not about hacking,” Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson said outside court.

“This case is about a journalist and a publisher who had conversations with a source about accessing material, encouraged that source to provide material and spoke to that source about how to protect their identity. This is a protected activity that journalists engage in all the time.”

She said the action against him had been launched under former U.S. President Barack Obama and aggressively pursued by the administration of Donald Trump.

The case was adjourned until May 30 for a procedural hearing with a more substantial hearing planned for June 12. The full extradition hearing was some months away, Judge Michael Snow told the court.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Alistair Smout and Janet Lawrence)