(Reprinted from December 2018 following Assange’s arrest in London April 11, 2019)
Accidentally disclosed information confirms the U.S. is actively planning to prosecute Julian Assange. What happens to Assange will almost certainly change what can be lawfully published in our democracy. This threat to our freedoms is being largely ignored because the Assange, once a progressive journalist, is now regarded as a hero-turned-zero. At stake? The ability of all journalists to inform the public of things the government specifically wants to withhold.
A clerical error revealed the Justice Department secretly has filed criminal charges against Assange. Court papers in what appears to be an unrelated case used cut-and-pasted language from documents prepared previously against Assange.
Though the new information makes clear prosecution is planned if Assange can be delivered to American custody, no further details are available. Assange is under scrutiny at a minimum for unauthorized possession of classified material going back to at least 2010, when Wikileaks burst on to the international stage with evidence of American war crimes in Iraq, and exposed years worth of classified State Department diplomatic cables. More recently, Assange has been accused of trying to manipulate the 2016 U.S. presidential election with his release of emails from the Democratic National Committee server. The emails, some believe, came to Wikileaks via hackers working for the Russian government (Assange denies this) and are deeply tied to the claims of collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow otherwise known as “Russiagate.” Less publicized in the media but of critical concern inside the U.S. government is Wikileaks’ publication of the so-called Vault 7 materials, CIA hacking and malware tools, which revealed American technical intelligence skills and methods. Assange has hinted on at least one occasion he may have “Vault 8” materials as yet unreleased.
When Assange is prosecuted, on trial with him will be a key question concerning the First Amendment: do journalists actually enjoy special protection against national security charges? Can they publish classified documents because the national interest creates a 1A shield to do so? Or only when the government allows it?
Under the current “rules,” you get caught handing me a SECRET document, you go to jail. Meanwhile, I publish to millions, including any Russian intelligence officers with Internet access, and end up on Kimmel next to Taylor Swift. I whisper “I’m a freedom fighter, you know” into Taylor’s moist ear and she sighs.
Ask Edward Snowden, in dark exile in Moscow. Talk to Chelsea Manning, who spent years in Leavenworth while journalists for the New York Times and the Washington Post won accolades for the stories they wrote based on the documents she leaked. See how many stories today cite sources and reports, almost all of which are based on leaked classified information, stuff the government doesn’t want published yet accepts as part of the way journalism and the 1A work.
Yet despite widespread practice, there is no law rendering journalists immune from the same national security charges their sources go to jail for violating. There is no explicit protection against espionage charges written between the lines of the First Amendment. It is all based on at best an unspoken agreement to not prosecute journalists for revealing classified data, and it appears it is about to be thrown away to nail Julian Assange.
In 1971 Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, a classified history of the Vietnam War, to the New York Times. Reporters at the Times feared they would go to jail under the Espionage Act but published anyway, even as the Washington Post wimped out. The Nixon administration quickly found a court to order the Times to cease publication after initial excerpts were printed, the first time in U.S. history a federal judge censored a newspaper.
The Supreme Court then handed down New York Times Company v. United States, a victory for the First Amendment which allowed the Papers to be published, but an opinion which sidestepped the larger question about whether the 1A protects journalists publishing classified in favor of simply affirming the government couldn’t censor the news in advance. The Court left the door open for the government to prosecute both the leakers (by dismissing Ellsberg’s leaker case on technical grounds and ignoring his public interest defense) and the journalists who publish them (by focusing narrowly on prior restraint.) The Justices avoided saying the 1A offered a specific shield to journalists in matters of national security.
The Pentagon Papers case has governed everything about national security journalism from that day until the moment the U.S. government finally gets Julian Assange into an American courtroom.
On the source side, the Obama administration was especially virulent in prosecuting leakers. Trump continued the policy by throwing the book at Reality Winner. Both administrations made clear there was nothing to distinguish between taking classified documents to inform the public and taking them say with the intent to hand over secrets to the Chinese. On the other side of the equation, the journalists, the government (including, to date, Trump despite all the noise about attacking the press) has chosen not to prosecute journalists for publishing what leakers hand over to them.
The closest step toward throwing a journalist in jail over classified information came in 2014, when Obama Attorney General Eric Holder permitted subpoenaing New York Times reporter James Risen regarding a former CIA employee. After much legal muscle tussle, the Supreme Court turned down Risen’s appeal, siding with the government in a confrontation between a national security prosecution and infringement of press freedom. The Supreme Court refused to consider whether the First Amendment includes an unwritten “reporter’s privilege” in the free press clause. The Court instead upheld existing decisions finding the Constitution does not give journalists special protections. The door was w-a-y open to throwing Risen in jail.
But instead of becoming the first president to jail a journalist for what he published, Obama punted. Happy with the decision affirming they could have prosecuted Risen, with no explanation prosecutors asked the U.S. District Court to simply leave Risen alone. Risen’s alleged source went to jail instead for leaking classified. The unspoken rules stayed intact.
Unspoken rules are useful — they can be read to mean one thing when dealing with the chummy MSM who understands where the unspoken lines are even if they need the occasional brush back pitch like with Risen, and another when the desire is to deep-six a trouble-maker like Assange. Julian Assange poked the Deep State — he exposed the military as war criminals in Iraq (ironically in part for gunning down two Reuters journalists), the State Department as hypocrites, laid bare the CIA’s global hacking games in the Vault 7 disclosures, and showed everyone the Democratic primaries were rigged. None of those stories would have come to light under the MSM alone. And if Assange does know something about Russiagate (did he meet with Manafort?!?), what better place to silence him than a SuperMax.
The government is likely to cite the clear precedent from the Obama years it damn well can prosecute journalists for revealing classified information, and keep the established media happy by offering enough thin exceptions (natsec journalism groupies have already started making lists) to appear to isolate Assange’s crucifixion from setting broad precedent. Say, start with the fact that he wasn’t covered by the 1A outside the U.S., that his sources were Russian hackers seeking to harm the U.S. instead of misguided chaps like Ellsberg and Manning. Assange had no national interest in mind, no sincere desire to inform the public. He, a foreigner no less, wanted to influence the 2016 election, maybe in collusion!
Shamefully, those stuck in journalism’s cheap seats are unlikely to side with Assange, even though they wrote stories off what he published on Wikileaks. They’ll drift along with the government’s nod and wink this is all a one-off against Julian, and those who play by the government’s unspoken rules are still safe.
They’ll self-righteously proclaim Assange going to jail a sad but unfortunately necessary thing, claiming he just took things too far dealing with the Russkies, ignoring while the door to prosecute a journalist for national security has always been carefully left open by administrations dating back to Nixon, it is only under their watch that it may be slammed on the hands of one of their own whom they refuse to see, now, for their own misguided self-preservation, as a journalist. The Daily Beast’s take on all this, for example, is headlined a TMZ-esque “Unkempt, Heavily Bearded Julian Assange No Longer Has Embassy Cat For Company.”
They will miss where previous cases avoided delineating the precise balancing point between the government’s need to protect information, the right to expose information, and the media’s right to publish it, an Assange prosecution will indeed create a new precedents, weapons for the future for clever prosecutors. It will be one of those turning points journalists someday working under new press restrictions will cite when remembering the good old days.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Rich Bauer said...
1The MSM is okay with this cause Assange apparently ain’t a journalist. (Read: it doesn’t want the competition or to be embarrassed by real investigative journalists.) When the WSJ, NYT and the rest routinely publicize classified info, the gov agrees to disagree and that’s that. See Risen. Assange should be willing to be prosecuted in this corrupt country just to watch the MSM screw itself in knots justifying the unequal treatment.
12/2/18 9:54 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
2When you set out to expose corruption in high places expect to be at best neutered and at worst “disappeared”. Assange assumed perhaps he could be a hero and then be given a handsome stipend for the rest of his long life from bringing to light the awful deeds of empire. What did Ellsberg’s publications do? Nothing! America is now airbrushing the Vietnam War and the sheeple are loving it. They are relieved that they are now proclaimed good people after all. -Vietnam was America’s noble gesture to bring goodness and prosperity to savages. Ellsberg is now a joke and so will Assange and Wikileaks be in a few decades. Sorry to upset your delusions PVB. There never were “good old days”.
12/3/18 5:59 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
3So that’s it. My lame musings are the last word?
12/5/18 6:43 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
4JP,
Cognitive dissonance is a terrible thing to mind. The airbrushing of our terrible crimes lets US feel good about ourselves. Hey, we’re the good guys, right?
12/6/18 9:33 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
5Trumpies are free to tell lies, but when it comes to speaking truth to power like Trumpie getting impeached and how that could change government programs, somehow that ain’t covered by the 1st.
12/6/18 1:00 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
6Well, Assange won’t die alone.
The Whore of Baloney
As President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that he will nominate State Department spokeswoman and former Fox News anchor Heather Nauert as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, critics argued that while the president’s decision to select someone with zero diplomatic experience to represent the U.S. before the international community is “appalling,” the belligerent foreign policy and contempt for human rights that Nauert will be in charge of selling is immeasurably more dangerous.
“The U.S. is breaking treaties, cutting foreign aid, imposing unilateral sanctions, threatening other countries, expanding the arms race, and gravely endangering the global environment. Global peace itself is being put at risk.”
—Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University
“Appointing a Fox News talking head to represent our country at the United Nations is completely in character [for Trump],” argued Brian Dixon, senior vice president for media and government relations for the Population Connection Action Fund. “Nauert brings no experience, no understanding and, frankly, no interest in learning.”
She’s perfect to represent the Dumbest Country on the Planet.
12/7/18 11:47 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
7Bauer- We must not miss the confirmation hearings. Could the committee reject her? Maybe.
12/7/18 2:01 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
8She was selected because of her ability to spin shit like a mother-f@##er.
“We have a very strong relationship with the government of Germany,” Nauert said. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day invasion. We obviously have a very long history with the government of Germany, and we have a strong relationship with the government of Germany.”
Wow. Just wow.
12/7/18 7:13 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
9Let’s take a poll. How many feel Assange will find -after being whisked from the Ecuadorian Embassy:
#1. Safe refuge somewhere
#2. Be killed by a drone personally guided by Hillary Clinton while exiting the embassy:
#3. Become a Jesuit priest and serve the jungle inhabitants of Burkina Faso.
#4. Your idea.
12/8/18 1:03 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
10JP,
If Assange knew anything about the Russian conspiracy, he would already be dead. He’s a nobody who just wanted to get laid..like Trump.
12/9/18 6:45 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
11April 11th 2019 and Orwell’s ghost has awakened to see what will happen next. The sheeple: “Put him to the stake! String him up! Draw and quarter him! Line up the firing squad! His head on a stake! Throw him to the sharks! Turn him over to ISIS and let them burn him alive in a cage! Put him in a pilotless remote controlled Boeing Max 7 but first break off the AOA tubes!
04/11/19 9:15 AM | Comment Link
Kyzl Orda said...
12There are a number of journalists tied to the Clintons at the Washington Post, NY Times, and NPR. There is an axe to grind against Wikileaks because of the primaries and other things exposed in the emails. Plus, they misfired badly, misdefining the paramenters of the investigation into Russian hacking. This will be an opportunity to redeem themselves.
Will Assange’s trial be public? More battles are about to brew, some unintentional
04/11/19 11:57 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
13Kyzi- everything awful might happen to Assange- even a convenient Jack Ruby event. But if there is a public trial something positive could transpire. In the mean time Democrats demand the Mueller report be available to Congress non redacted. I’ll go one better. The non redacted full report should be available for every American citizen to read. Oops, State Secrets must be guarded.
04/11/19 1:02 PM | Comment Link
Julian Assange arrested, taken from embassy | Phil Ebersole's Blog said...
14[…] Julian Assange Will Die Along With Your First Amendment Rights by Peter Van Buren for We Meant Well. […]
04/11/19 5:03 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
15Hillarious: Assange has to answer for what he has done.
And what exactly has he done, Hillarious? If his actions helped you to lose- which there is no evidence- then he should get the Peace Prize.
04/12/19 6:57 AM | Comment Link
Chuck Nasmith said...
16The United States does not like to talk about Crimes Against Humanity. Prosecute War Criminals,or stfu. No caps yet. Peace…
04/12/19 11:56 AM | Comment Link
Kyzl Orda said...
17John – I agree, the Barr report should be made public to every US citizen
04/12/19 2:40 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
18Any federal employee who communicated with Wikileaks would have lost security clearance and employment. See Clinton v Van Buren
So…
Trump Jr. was in communication with WikiLeaks, and at times appears to have acted on its requests. When WikiLeaks first reached out to Trump Jr. about putintrump.org, for instance, Trump Jr. followed up on his promise to “ask around.” According to a source familiar with the congressional investigations into Russian interference with the 2016 campaign, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, on the same day that Trump Jr. received the first message from WikiLeaks, he emailed other senior officials with the Trump campaign, including Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Brad Parscale, and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, telling them WikiLeaks had made contact. Kushner then forwarded the email to campaign communications staffer Hope Hicks. At no point during the 10-month correspondence does Trump Jr. rebuff WikiLeaks, which had published stolen documents and was already observed to be releasing information that benefited Russian interests.
Maybe Peter should ask for his job back.
04/12/19 9:55 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
19So Assange is facing prison for telling Manning how to break the law and our Presidunce tells the head of the Border Patrol to break the law. The difference is Assange didn’t promise Manning a pardon.
04/13/19 2:54 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
20Ralph Waldo Emerson, “When you strike at a king you must kill him”. Warning to Assange, If you strike at a queen wanna-be you might have to deal with Hillary’s Jack Ruby type devotees.
04/15/19 11:13 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
21To recap: a rogue nation engages in war crimes with impunity, and the only persons who go to jail are the ones who expose these crimes.
04/15/19 2:07 PM | Comment Link
Karl Kolchak said...
22I remember on the evening of 9/11 my wife and I saying to each other that the world would never be the same. We had no idea what was going to happen (we just had ZERO confidence in Bush to do the right thing). What’s probably been most painful is seeing nearly every public figure in America debase themselves in some way since then as the country slowly rips itself apart.
04/15/19 10:00 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
23Karl,
When you spend half your budget on a war machine, what do you think will happen?
04/16/19 8:24 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
24Anybody wanna bet Glenn Greenwald will be the next one on the Amerikan Gestapo list, charged as a hacker aiding Russian spying?
04/16/19 10:27 AM | Comment Link
chucknobomb said...
25Free Assange and Manning and Snowden, etc. and free those incarcerated by twitter.
04/17/19 12:52 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
26Free speech ain’t free
Wikileaks reportedly willing to pay $1,000,000 for a copy of the unredacted Mueller report.
Anyone who buys a million dollar condo from Trump will also receive a copy.
04/17/19 6:52 PM | Comment Link