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Matt Zapotosky
National Security Journalist Covering the Department of Justice
Devlin Barrett
A journalist specializing in national security and law enforcement
The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, was charged under seal. Prosecutors inadvertently disclosed a recently undisclosed case, which could advance the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and have significant consequences for those who publish government secrets. .
The disclosure occurred in a filing in a case unrelated to Assange. US Attorney General Kellen S. Dwyer, urging a judge to keep the case under seal, wrote that "because of the defendant's sophistication and publicity surrounding the case, no other The procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange was charged. "Later, Dwyer wrote that the charges would be" must remain sealed until Assange is arrested. "
Dwyer is also assigned to the WikiLeaks case. People familiar with the case said that what Dwyer had revealed was true, but unintentional.
Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia, said, "The court record was made by mistake. This was not the name wanted for this deposit. "
An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia had been investigating Assange for a long time, and in the Trump administration he had begun to look for the second time to accuse members of the WikiLeaks organization for the leakage of diplomatic cables and military documents in 2010, what the anti-secret group released. Investigators also investigated whether WikiLeaks could face criminal liability for the more recent revelation of sensitive CIA cyber tools.
Special advocate, Robert S. Mueller III, also explored WikiLeaks' publication of e-mails from the Democratic National Committee and the story of Hillary Clinton campaign president John D. Podesta. Officials said the emails were hacked by Russian spies and transferred to WikiLeaks.
[In email to Trump’s campaign strategist, Roger Stone implied he knew of WikiLeaks’s plans]
Mueller also explored, among other things, communications between the group and the associates of President Trump, including politician Roger Stone and commentator and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi.
In July, his office indicted 12 spies from the Russian army for attempting to hack computers from the DNC, stealing data from the organization and publishing files in order to disrupt them. election, and refers in an indictment to WikiLeaks, described only by "Organization 1". the platform that the Russians used to free stolen emails.
A spokesman for the special advocate's office declined to comment.
It was not clear right away what charges Assange might face. In the past, prosecutors had considered prosecuting a case of conspiracy, theft of government property or violation of the law on espionage. But deciding whether the founder of WikiLeaks should be accused was not inevitable. In the Obama administration, the Justice Ministry had concluded that to prosecute Assange would be to sue a newspaper. The Attorney General of the day, Jeff Sessions, however, had taken a more aggressive stance and had pledged to quell all government leaks.
Barry J. Pollack, one of Assange's attorneys, said, "The only thing more irresponsible than prosecuting a person for publishing truthful information would be to publish in a file information that is not clearly not intended for the public and without notice to Mr. Assange. Obviously, I do not know if he was actually charged or for what, but the idea that federal criminal charges could be laid on the basis of truthful information publication is a precedent incredibly dangerous. "
The filing of a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia occurred on August 22 in a case involving national security and sex trafficking. Seitu Sulayman Kokayi, 29, was charged with inciting a 15-year-old girl to have sex with him and to send her pornographic images of herself. It was, however, partly stopped, according to the court record, because it "had a substantial interest in acts of terrorism".
His father-in-law, according to the record, would have been found guilty of terrorist acts. According to documents filed by the government, the case concerns previously classified information and prosecutors plan to use information obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Kokayi was indicted last week and should be charged Friday morning.
[Analysis: A timeline of the Roger Stone-WikiLeaks question]
The case had been sealed until early September, although it attracted little attention. On Thursday night, Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the program on extremism at George Washington University, reputed to have pinned court records, joked about the apparent error on Twitter, which initially drew the attention of journalists.
Even if he is charged, Assange to go to the United States to be tried is not safe. Since June 2012, Assange lives in the Ecuadorian embassy, fearing to be arrested when he shows up outside.
When he first applied for asylum at the embassy, he was at risk of being extradited to Sweden in connection with a sexual crimes case. He argued that this case was a pretext for what he planned to be his arrest and extradition to the United States.
Since then, the Swedish case has been closed, but Assange said that he could not risk leaving the embassy because the United States would try to have him arrested and extradited for disclosure of US government secrets . All the while, the United States refused to say if there were any sealed charges against Assange.
If Assange were to leave the embassy and be arrested by the British authorities, he would probably still be opposed to extradition in British courts.
Rachel Weiner and Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report.
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