Strange Headfellows

In an interview with Campus Reform, fugitive from Swedish justice and Wikileaks indiscriminate leaker Julian "Ass Is Part of Who I Am" Assange revealed his American political preferences (via LGF):

College-aged support for libertarians and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) represents the United States’ “only hope” in politics, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told Campus Reform early Friday morning.

“The only hope as far as electoral politics… presently, is the libertarian section of the Republican party,” said Assange, in response to a question about the recent swell of college-aged and youth-based support for libertarianism.

“The libertarian aspect of the Republican Party is presently the only useful political voice really in the U.S. Congress,” said Assange. “[I] am a big admirer of Ron Paul and Rand Paul for their very principled positions in the U.S. Congress on a number of issues.” [snip]

Assange, who was speaking in an online video forum, hosted by the transparency organization OurSay.org, also praised American Journalist Matt Drudge saying he is responsible for breaking down the “self-censorship” of the American mainstream media.

“Matt Drudge is a news media innovator… It is as a result of the self-censorship of the establishment press in the United States that gave Matt Drudge such a platform and so of course he should be applauded for breaking a lot of that censorship,” said Assange.  (our emphasis)

This, along with fellow Paultard and Putin houseguest Edward "Shoot My Balls" Snowden's drama, illustrates why some progressives need to be very careful in picking their "heroes."  In our view, both Assange and Snowden veer onto the "anarcho-libertarian" nihilist edge of politics, wherein a sense of "ethical egoism" and unfocused action always trumps collective judgement.  =cough= AynRand =cough= To name-check far-right conspiracy fluffer Matt Drudge (!) as a media exemplar kinda gives Assange's game away, too. 

But Gary Norton sums it up best, first on the link to Paul and the Republican Party, then on Drudge:

Yup. An anti-government, anti-Social Security, anti-Medicare and Medicaid, anti-civil rights, anti-choice, anti-LGBT, pro-business, anti-minimum wage, anti-40 hour work week, anti-union, basically anti-every piece of Democratic and progressive legislation that has ever been passed in this country Political Party and its nihilistic leaders are the only hope for America.

And Matt Drudge, a guy who has never found a right wing lie that he wasn't eager to spread, is Assange's idea of a "news reporter." Wonder if Assange has a tricorn hat, breeches and wig in his suitcase?

BONUS:  Also, Tomasky.

Breaking: Assange Arrested

Earlier today in London, British police arrested Russian intelligence partner and head of WikiLeaks Julian Assange and carried him from the Ecuadorian embassy. He was taken to a Metropolitan Police station awaiting an appearance before a magistrate. He faces a U.S. extradition warrant in connection with WikiLeaks' release of secret and sensitive U.S. documents.

The Ecuadorian government had revoked his asylum after nearly seven years. Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno announced the decision to have Assange removed:

“Today I announce that that the discourteous and aggressive behavior of Mr. Julian Assange, the hostile and threatening declarations of its allied organization, against Ecuador, and especially the transgression of international treaties, have led the situation to a point where the asylum of Mr. Assange is unsustainable and no longer viable."

Beyond being an unpleasant guest of the embassy, Assange's organization has increasingly been hacking and releasing damaging information and data from the U.S. government and other allies, and provided an outlet for hacked e-mails from the Democratic National Committee that were damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016. Russia and other authoritarian countries have not been targets of Assange's organization over the years.

Proceedings at the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia inadvertently disclosed that Assange was the subject of a sealed criminal complaint, presumably related to the Russian government's interference in the 2016 elections (UPDATE: it turns out to be related to facilitating the Chelsea Manning leaks).

Check BBC for updates here.

BONUS:

Per pool, President Trump is offering his first reaction to the Julian Assange arrest: “I know nothing about Wikileaks. It’s not my thing.”

— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) April 11, 2019

He only mentioned WikiLeaks 141 times during the 2016 campaign.

(photo: A bearded Assange is carried from Ecuadorian embassy, apparently kicking and screaming; the police officer's smile is priceless. Screenshot from SkyNews video)

Report: Assange Sought To Flee To Russia

WikiLeaks' Russian asset and accused rapist Julian Assange attempted to secure a visa to travel to Russia as his legal problems mounted. On November 30, 2010, Assange was being pursued by Swedish authorities under an Interpol warrant accusing him of the molestation of one woman and the rape of a second woman. His organization -- now recognized as an arm of Russian intelligence -- had just released 250,000 hacked U.S. documents concerning drone attacks in Yemen, alleged U.S. corrupt activities in the Arab world, and other subjects. Sensing possible extradition to Sweden on the sex charged, or the U.S. to face espionage charges, he wrote to the Russian embassy in London seeking a visa, but it wasn't granted, and Assange turned himself in to British authorities on December 7, 2010.

The disclosure of Assange's activities are part of a large trove of WikiLeaks documents obtained by the Associated Press from former WikiLeaks associates and others. An associate of Assange's, Holocaust denier Israel Shamir, was the go-between attempting to get the visa, and was interviewed in 2011 by a Russian media outlet:

"Shamir said he’d personally brokered a Russian visa for Assange, but that it had come too late to rescue him from the sex crimes investigation.

Russia 'would be one of those places where he and his organization would be comfortable operating,' Shamir explained. Asked if Assange had friends in the Kremlin, Shamir smiled and said: 'Let’s hope that’s the case.'" (our emphasis)

After his supporters raised bail for him, he stiffed them, jumped bail and scurried to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he remains, for now at least.

As the AP story observes regarding the trove of information in their possession:

"The files provide both an intimate look at the radical transparency organization and an early hint of Assange’s budding relationship with Moscow.

The ex-hacker’s links to the Kremlin would become increasingly salient before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when the FBI says Russia’s military intelligence agency directly supplied WikiLeaks with stolen emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and other Democratic figures."

Ecuador, if you're listening, give Assange the boot from your embassy.

UK Court: No To Extraditing Assange

 

Earlier today, a British court rejected a request by the U.S. to extradite WikiLeaks head and Russian cut out Julian Assange on 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer misuse over the publication of thousands of diplomatic and military documents and files a decade ago. The court denied Assange's claim that he was being prosecuted for publishing the documents, agreeing that he had political motivations and lacked standing as a "journalist" in this case. The judge based her ruling on Assange's "mental condition" saying it would be "oppressive to extradite him." 

The U.S. has said they will appeal the extradition ruling, which must be done within two weeks. In the meantime, a bond hearing for Assange is scheduled for Wednesday, at which time the judge may set bail for Assange, setting the stage for him once again to flee to avoid prosecution, as he did after being charged with assault and rape in Sweden. Assange's network of misguided admirers and co-conspirators, along with support from Russia and other hostile actors, would be sure to assist him in that if at all possible.

While Assange was holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for several years, he managed to work with the likes of Republican felon and dirty trickster Roger Stone to release emails damaging to Hillary Clinton that were hacked by Russian military intelligence. The emails were released right after unhinged demagogue and election fraudster Donald "Mango Mussolini" Trump's notorious "Access Hollywood" tape was made public. His delicate "mental condition" was such that he managed to father two children with his lawyer, Stella Morris, while being given asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy. Morris is now putting out feelers to Trump for a pardon (as in "we did you a favor, now do us one").

Assange And The Seth Rich Hoax

The Mueller investigation report makes it clear that pro-Russian WikiLeaks was the engine for disseminating stolen documents aimed at undercutting the 2016 campaign of Hillary Clinton. It also reveals another piece: WikiLeaks' leader, the despicable accused rapist Julian Assange, who is now in British custody pending extradition requests from the U.S. and Sweden,  engineered a sinister smear job against Seth Rich, the murdered Democratic National Committee staffer, that was heavily promoted by right-wing media, notably the scurrilous Sean "Heil" Hannity:

"Julian Assange not only knew that a murdered Democratic National Committee staffer wasn’t his source for thousands of hacked party emails, he was in actively contact with his real sources in Russia’s GRU months after Seth Rich’s death. At the same time he was publicly working to shift blame onto the slain staffer 'to obscure the source of the materials he was releasing,'  Special Counsel Robert Mueller asserts in his final report on Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election." (our emphasis)

Rich was killed in a botched robbery attempt in D.C. His insertion into the DNC hacked e-mail theft by Assange to cause a diversion from WikiLeaks caused tremendous pain to Rich's family:

"With Assange behind it, the Seth Rich hoax moved into the almost-mainstream, spawning a quickly-retracted report on Fox News, and a series of 'investigations' by Assange ally Sean Hannity. It also wreaked havoc in the lives of Rich’s surviving family, particularly his anguished parents who later begged perpetrators of the charade 'to give us peace, and to give law enforcement the time and space to do the investigation they need to solve our son's murder.'

Even as he was ruthlessly framing Rich to protect himself, the GRU, or both, Assange was privately communicating with his real sources to arrange the transfer of the second election leak, material the GRU stole from John Podesta’s Gmail account." (our emphasis)

Assange is a sick monster, posing as a public-minded journalist while acting as an arm of Russian intelligence.  It's a very good thing that he's in custody. He'll get his days in court and, if justice is served, spend some serious time behind bars.

Assange One Step Closer To Facing Justice

Russian intelligence cut-out Julian Assange, founder of Trump-aligned WikiLeaks, is one step closer to being extradited to the U.S. to face 17 espionage charges. British Home Secretary Priti Patel approved Assange's extradition following a long court case that found that Assange would be treated humanely by U.S. authorities. Assange has 14 days to file another appeal, which his wife / lawyer has promised to do.

Assange became the Malignant Loser's favorite cyber celebrity when WikiLeaks published emails from the campaign of Hillary Clinton which were likely stolen by the Russian military intelligence service GRU. A 2020 report by a Republican-led Senate Select Committee on Intelligence concluded that WikiLeaks participated in Russia's interference in the 2016 elections:

"Founded by Julian Assange, WikiLeaks published thousands of emails hacked from Clinton’s campaign and a top campaign aide in the weeks before the 2016 election, yielding a drumbeat of negative coverage about the Democrat.

As Russian military intelligence and WikiLeaks released the hacked documents, the report said Trump’s campaign sought advance notice, devised messaging strategies to amplify them 'and encouraged further theft of information and ... leaks.'

'The Trump campaign publicly undermined the attribution of the hack-and-leak campaign to Russia and was indifferent to whether it and WikiLeaks were furthering a Russian election interference effort,' the report added." (our emphasis)

Assange has used every vehicle to escape accountability over the past decade, including a 7-year stay in Ecuador's London embassy, and years of court fights and appeals after Ecuador tossed him out. The UK's decision to finally extradite him to the U.S. means that he's closer than ever to facing justice.

(photo: You won't have to hitch a ride to the U.S. Peter Nicholls / Reuters)

 

Assange One Step Closer To Extradition

Russian intelligence asset and Trump's 2016 election enabler, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was dealt a defeat in British court, which declined to hear his appeal of an extradition request from the U.S. on espionage charges. Assange has been held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison since he was removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in April 2019 at the embassy's request. Assange, who was able to father a child while being given asylum in the embassy, is in his tenth year of fighting extradition to the U.S. Unfortunately, the slippery Assange can stall his extradition from the U.K. for some time to come:

"Britain’s home secretary has to rule on the extradition. Assange can also appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, which guides British court decisions. And he can revive other claims denied in lower court — that the prosecution is political, that it violates free-speech rights, that it comes too long after the alleged crime, and that American authorities acted unlawfully."

Assange has proven to be a flight risk, so as long as he's behind bars, the wheels of justice can continue to grind. But at some point enough is enough, and he needs to be brought to justice in the U.S.

Extradition Process Moves Ahead For Assange

Russian intelligence asset Julian Assange, the leader of WikiLeaks, lost his bid today in a London Magistrate's Court to delay his extradition to the U.S. to face espionage charges. The charges stem from Assange's role in assisting former U.S. Army specialist Chelsea Manning to break into a classified Defense Department computer. Assange's lawyers were stalling for time to present their case against the extradition request. The court indicated that the full extradition hearing would still be held in late February, with two intermediate procedural hearings in the interim.

Assange was holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for years after jumping bail on a rape charge in Sweden before being booted out earlier this year. From there, he helped orchestrate the publication of e-mails from the Democratic National Committee that were hacked by Russian military intelligence. The effect of their release before the 2016 elections was to damage the Presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, a key Kremlin objective. Kremlin asset and corrupt con man Donald "Impeachable Me" Trump gloried in their release, frequently praising WikiLeaks' role and saying "I love WikiLeaks" at his Nuremberg campaign rallies.

Tellingly, Assange's WikiLeaks has yet to publish any damaging information on the Russian Federation despite that country's widespread corruption and authoritarianism. They won't because their goals align with Moscow's: tarnish and disrupt the U.S. and its democratic institutions.

(photo: Assange as he was physically removed from the Ecuadorian embassy. Sky News photo)

Biting The Hand That Feeds Him: Assange Edition

Fugitive sexual assaulter, cyber criminal and Russian hacking accomplice Julian Assange is taking legal action against Ecuador, which has sheltered him in their embassy in London since 2012. Assange's WikiLeaks worked with Russian intelligence and the Trump campaign in 2016 to disseminate stolen e-mails from the Democratic National Committee, aiding the Kremlin's man in Washington Donald "Rump" Trump's campaign. Assange had originally sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy after jumping bail on a charge of sexual assault and rape lodged by Swedish authorities.

Assange is objecting to the embassy curtailing his use of the internet and his interactions with visitors under a "special protocol" established by Ecuadorian authorities. This past summer, there was wide speculation that the Ecuadorian government was in negotiations with UK authorities to eject the controversial Assange from the embassy, as he had become what the Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno called a "stone in the shoe." It appears that the stone may grow larger for Ecuador, before they chuck it out the door, the sooner the better.

(photo: Assange peering from embassy window; careful, he bites. Max/Shutterstock)

Assange To Take Plea Deal

In a deal with U.S. prosecutors, Russian asset and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to one charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. defense documents, and be released from custody later today. U.S. prosecutors say that Assange will be credited with the time he's served in a British prison and face no additional time. From Reuters:

"U.S. prosecutors said in court papers that Assange, 52, has agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents, according to filings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

Assange is due to be sentenced at a hearing on the island of Saipan at 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday (1900 EDT/2300 GMT on Tuesday). He is likely to be credited for the time he has already served and face no new jail time.

WikiLeaks in 2010 released hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military documents on Washington's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - the largest security breaches of their kind in U.S. military history - along with swaths of diplomatic cables."

Assange was served with an arrest warrant in Britain for sexual assault in Sweden in 2010, but fled to the Ecuadorian embassy where he was given asylum until being kicked out in 2019. Nearly all investigations at WikiLeaks have involved the leak of U.S. and western allies' secrets, rather than from Russia, China or Iran, in an indication of the organization's political bias.

(photo: Assange dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy. NBC News screenshot)

 

Tweets Of The Day -- Quid Pro Quo, Assange Edition

Julian Assange court appearance today- His lawyer mentioned a statement, that alleges former US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher visited Assange, saying he was there on behalf of the President, offering a pardon if JA would say Russia had nothing to do with DNC leaks. @SBSNews

— Ben Lewis (@benlewismedia) February 19, 2020

It’s like Watergate but a hundred times worse and with morons https://t.co/jKhUkbHLHl

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) February 19, 2020

So if this is true, the incentive may have been to cooperate w/extradition process &US trial (where Assange would testify to Russians not being involved) in exchange for pardon at the end. Again if true, could be a bluff by US and/or Assange trying to blow up extradition process.

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 19, 2020

There has been talk of both Roger Stone and former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher trying to broker a pardon for Assange.

This description seems to match reported effort by Rohrabacher: https://t.co/5H3Cwj33DIhttps://t.co/PM0De6U5LR

— Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) February 19, 2020

Lawyer's don't usually make claims in court they can't prove. Will be interesting to see if there is proof of these serious allegations Rohrabacher was the WH's messenger, offering a pardon in exchange for silence on Russia's hack of our election. https://t.co/le4O45Q1SM

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) February 19, 2020

Assange’s lawyers told the court considering his extradition that Congressman Dana Rohrabacher carried a message from President Trump directly to the Wikileaks founder. Did this happen during the Mueller investigation? https://t.co/gOJ7p38MpZ

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 19, 2020

Quid, meet Quo. Again. https://t.co/hWBLch4mSq

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) February 19, 2020

Trump's efforts to expunge and/ or rewrite history are an ongoing criminal project, now that he's feeling like a virtual king and (today's ironic howler) the country's "chief law enforcement officer".  With the assistance of his attorney, William "Low" Barr, he's actively pursuing an alternative narrative to the facts concerning Russian efforts to install him in office that the U.S. intelligence community concluded.  He's willing to throw around pardons, bully prosecutors, anything that will allow him to have things go his way.  It's going to continue, so be prepared and push back.

BONUS: Former Congressman Rohrabacher is infamous for his service to Mother Russia. House Rethuglican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy once said "there are two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump."

U.S. Asks Brits Again For Assange's Extradition

The U.S. is asking a British appeals court to reverse the judgement of a lower court that Russian asset and accused sexual predator Julian Assange should not be extradited to the U.S. to face charges for leaking classified information via WikiLeaks in 2010 and 2011. Assange's lawyers say he's a risk of suicide if extradited to the U.S. to stand trial.

Assange's WikiLeaks also figured prominently in the 2016 Presidential election, when they published roughly 30,000 e-mails and documents from Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee with the intent of sabotaging her campaign and tilting the election to demagogue Donald "Loser" Trump. The hacked emails and documents were later traced to Russian military intelligence. According to the Mueller Report, Assange was also involved in the vicious smear of Seth Rich, whose murder was the subject of a vile conspiracy attack aimed at Clinton.

The U.S. needs to get this international fugitive back in the U.S. for trial. He's already shown a willingness to flee to his benefactors in Russia, and his years-long asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London shows he'll use any means to escape justice. Now, it's up to the British appeals court to allow his extradition.

(photo: A bearded Assange removed kicking and screaming from Ecuadorian embassy in 2019)

Monday Reading (UPDATED)

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Putin puppet Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump's Secretary of State, pompous Mike Pompeo, is on a mission to undercut the Iran nuclear deal and precipitate a war with Iran:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday arrived Brussels in an unplanned visit with European foreign ministers who had been meeting to bolster the faltering Iran nuclear deal against a U.S. assault.

The last-minute decision — announced as he hopped on a plane — set up a confrontation between Pompeo and European diplomats who have been scrambling to save the deal. [snip]

Pompeo scrapped a day of mostly ceremonial events in Moscow on Monday in favor of the Brussels stopover. He plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday. Many E.U. leaders are furious with Trump’s moves on Iran, and Brussels appeared set to welcome Pompeo only grudgingly, if at all.  (our emphasis)

It's not surprising Pompeo is reporting back to headquarters after trying to sink the nuclear deal our European allies have been trying to salvage.  Meanwhile, Iran archenemy Saudi Arabia is investigating the "sabotage" of two of its oil tankers in the Persian Gulf (perhaps by bonesaw?), setting up a potential pretext for attacks on Iran.  They're determined to use the weak- minded Trump to achieve their goal of eliminating a regional rival, to hell with the consequences.

A Washington Post editorial ties this in with a visit to our would- be autocrat by Hungarian despot Viktor Orban:

Mr. Trump’s affinity for this demagogue is matched by his administration’s steadily worsening relations with traditionally close U.S. allies such as Germany and France. On the same day that the White House announced Mr. Orban’s visit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abruptly canceled a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. As Europe’s centrist parties struggle with a growing challenge from far-right parties with racist and authoritarian agendas, the United States ought to be doing all it can to bolster liberal democracy, especially in those parts of Europe where its roots are shallow. Instead, with increasing boldness, Mr. Trump is siding with democracy’s enemies.

The lights have gone from flashing yellow to red.

Meanwhile, Russian intelligence cutout and current British jailbird Julian Assange is having his rape investigation reopened by Sweden:

Swedish prosecutors are reopening an investigation into a rape allegation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Speaking Monday at a news conference in Stockholm, Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecutions, said there is “still a probable cause to suspect that Assange committed rape.” In her assessment, she said, “a new questioning of Assange is required.”

Last month, Assange was arrested by British police at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London and later sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail.

He fled to the embassy in 2012 after Sweden requested his extradition in a case involving sexual assault allegations, which Assange denies.

An Iraq war combat veteran writes about the dangers stemming from Trump's pardoning of war criminals:

In at least three instances, then, our commander in chief appears to have preferred to overlook serious war crimes in favor of a warped notion of patriotism and heroism. Trump subscribes to a “bad things happen in war” mentality — odd for a man who actively avoided military service.  [snip]

When Trump champions war criminals as brave patriots who are simply victims of political correctness, he seems to push for a climate that condones unethical and criminal behavior. He appears to write off war crimes as the cost of doing business. If this is the example our military is given, we should not be surprised to see more [Michael] Behennas and [Edward] Gallaghers. Referring to the infamous Army “kill team ” in Afghanistan in 2009-2010, a senior military official noted the importance of the brigade commander’s aggressive guidance, which rejected any attempt to “win hearts and minds.” The official observed that “clearly, the guys who were pulling the trigger are the proximate cause of the crime, but the culture itself is the enabler.” [snip]

 Leaders are constantly making policy, by what they do — and by what they don’t do. Trump’s posture endangers our deployed men and women by betraying the trust of host nations that we will prosecute those rare individuals who commit crimes against their people.  [our emphasis]

Finally, we offer our recommendation to check out Infidel 753's latest link round- up for the best smorgasbord of Internet offerings anywhere.  Make sure you at least make it to the link to the Anne Frank memorial posting.

UPDATE:  Apparently the Europeans weren't having any of pompous Pompeo's shenanigans--

A senior European diplo tells me @SecPompeo came to Brussels for a photo op -- Europe and US stand against Iran. "He wanted a photo op. We declined and stuck to the plan." #Iran #EU @FedericaMog

— laurence norman (@laurnorman) May 13, 2019

Well, we're sure the Russians will accommodate him.

Ecuador Clips Assange's Wings

Yesterday, Ecuador announced that it was the "state actor" that had cut of the internet connection for alleged rapist and Russian intelligence services asset Julian "Ass Is Part of Who I Am" Assange this past Sunday. They explained that they couldn't condone the interference of Assange's' WikiLeaks organization in U.S. elections. Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the past four years to avoid extradition to Sweden to face rape charges, has been directing the timed release of e-mails hacked by Russian intelligence from the Democratic National Committee, the State Department and the Clinton campaign staff aimed at embarrassing Clinton and influencing the election in favor of sociopathic authoritarian Donald "Rump" Trump.

As a sign that WikiLeaks is prepared to pressure Ecuador to permit Assange's continuing asylum at their London embassy, they released a "pre-commitment" code entitled "Ecuador," which signifies that they have damaging documents that could be used against the Ecuadorean government. Blackmail, in plain language. It's well past time that Assange be brought to justice, and WikiLeaks be exposed as a willing partner with Russian intelligence services in their efforts to destabilize Western governments and institutions.

Assange's Extradition To U.S. Imminent

The British High Court has formally issued extradition documents for Russian stooge and Trump favorite Julian Assange to the UK Home Secretary for action. After seven years of WikiLeaks founder Assange's asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London before being ejected, and more time in legal appeals and maneuvering, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel is expected to sign the papers finally allowing Assange to be extradited to the U.S. to face 18 criminal charges related to the Espionage Act. While Assange is expected to file one last delaying appeal, the time for his extradition to the U.S. can be measured in weeks, not years.

Prior to seeking refuge in London's Ecuadorian Embassy, Assange was fleeing a warrant from Swedish law enforcement for the alleged rape of two girls. His WikiLeaks activities were aimed at the U.S. and its allies, not on Russia or its allies, making clear his operation was virtually an arm of the Kremlin's security apparatus. 

(photo: Do svidaniya. Daniel Leal / AFP via Getty Images)

 

BREAKING: U.K. Says Assange Can Be Extradited

Yesterday was a good day for the U.S. justice system with the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals denying the malignant former guy's request to hide his connection with the January 6 insurrection. Today was a good day for justice in the U.K.  The British High Court ruled that Russian cut-out and funnel for their WikiLeaks disinformation campaign in the 2016 election Julian Assange can be extradited to the U.S. to face long-standing charges of publishing classified documents in 2010 and 2011. They are permitting his extradition on assurances from the U. S. that risks of suicide by Assange will be reduced, and that his incarceration would not be under severe conditions. Assange's lawyer / fiancée / baby mama Stella Moris says they will appeal the ruling. 

Assange, whose WikiLeaks organization aligns itself with Russia, has been avoiding justice for years, first popping up in Sweden, where he had to flee after being accused of rape, and then to the U.K. where after evading a warrant for his arrest for that alleged rape, he gained asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, where he spent several years being an unpleasant squatter before being hustled out in April, 2019. 

(photo: You shouldn't poke your thumb in your eye.  Jack Taylor / Getty Images)

Ecuador Ready To Boot Assange Out?

There are reports that the government of Ecuador is in negotiations with the UK to evict cyber criminal and Russian cut-out Julian Assange, head of WikiLeaks, from their embassy in London, where he's been a fugitive for the past six years. WikiLeaks was Russia's agent in disseminating stolen documents damaging to Hillary Clinton and the Democrats during the 2016 election, and had been the instrument for Chelsea Manning's leak of classified material starting in 2010. If evicted, he faces extradition to the U.S. to face charges of espionage related to the Manning case, and potentially new charges stemming from Special Counsel Mueller's investigation and the recent indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers.

Assange sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy after fleeing Sweden, where he was about to be tried on rape charges. He's developed a following among the racist, far-right in the UK, led by the sinister hack Nigel Farage, the former head of the UK's Independence Party.

Ecuador's new president Lenin Moreno is reported to have grown impatient with Assange's presence, and has called him a "stone in the shoe." The UK's main negotiator with Ecuador, Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan, referred to Assange as a "miserable little worm" earlier this year. It looks like he's the right man for the job.

(photo: Rex/Shutterstock. You can run but you can't hide.)

"Paul Manafort Just Did Something Very Stupid" (UPDATED)

Marcy Wheeler has a must- read piece on sleazeball Paul Manafort's breaching of his plea agreement with the Special Counsel, and the peril it entails for him and corrupt sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump:

Now, it is true that Trump can pardon Manafort (though that probably won’t happen right away). That’s the only sane explanation for Manafort doing what he did, that he is still certain he’ll be pardoned. But many of these charges can still be charged in state court. 

Just about the only explanation for Manafort’s actions are that — as I suggested — Trump was happy to have Manafort serve as a mole in Mueller’s investigation. 

But Mueller’s team appears to have no doubt that Manafort was lying to them. That means they didn’t really need his testimony, at all. It also means they had no need to keep secrets — they could keep giving Manafort the impression that he was pulling a fast one over the prosecutors, all while reporting misleading information to Trump that he could use to fill out his open book test. Which increases the likelihood that Trump just submitted sworn answers to those questions full of lies. 

And that “detailed sentencing submission … sett[ing] forth the nature of the defendant’s crimes and lies” that Mueller mentions in the report? 

There’s your Mueller report, which will be provided in a form that Matt Whitaker won’t be able to suppress. (Reminder: Mueller included 38 pages of evidence along with Manafort’s plea agreement, which I argued showed how what Manafort and Trump did to Hillary was the same thing that Manafort had done to Yulia Tymoshenko.) (our emphasis)

Here's the Special Counsel's filing on Manafort (pdf).  Here's a quick review of Manafort's legal history with the Special Counsel.

Of all the crooks and traitors snared to date in the Special Counsel's investigation, Manafort is arguably the most hardcore corrupt.  But Manafort is also a stupid man, whose overwhelming greed and hubris resulted in amateurishly doctored financial statements and easily discovered tax evasion, crimes that can and certainly will be prosecuted at the State level to assure Manafort will do significant time regardless of any prospective Trump pardon (and, no, double jeopardy doesn't apply). Meanwhile, knowing Manafort was sharing information/ strategy with the Trump legal team all along, the Special Counsel simply waited for Dolt 45 to submit his responses to the Special Counsel's questions before pulling the rug out from under Manafort, potentially catching Rump in that ol' "perjury trap."

That he thinks he can outmaneuver the Special Counsel on the promise of a pardon from Dolt 45, and that his problems will disappear, indicates that the former Roger Stone business partner and professional Republican ratf*cker may have just made the most stupid mistake of his life.

UPDATE:  You think maybe the ratf*cker was at the center of it all from the get- go?

Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort held secret talks with Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and visited around the time he joined Trump’s campaign, the Guardian has been told. 

Sources have said Manafort went to see Assange in 2013, 2015 and in spring 2016 – during the period when he was made a key figure in Trump’s push for the White House. 

It is unclear why Manafort wanted to see Assange and what was discussed. But the last meeting is likely to come under scrutiny and could interest Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who is investigating alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. 

A well-placed source has told the Guardian that Manafort went to see Assange around March 2016. Months later WikiLeaks released a stash of Democratic emails stolen by Russian intelligence officers.

This would be another confirmation of the validity of the Steele dossier:

According to the dossier written by the former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, Manafort was at the centre of a “well-developed conspiracy of cooperation” between the Trump campaign and Russia’s leadership. The two sides had a mutual interest in defeating Clinton, Steele wrote, whom Putin “hated and feared”. 

In a memo written soon after the DNC emails were published, Steele said: “The [hacking] operation had been conducted with the full knowledge and support of Trump and senior members of his campaign team.”

Boom!

Do We (Not) Have A Surprise For You!

Hahahaha:

For weeks, backers of Republican nominee Donald Trump have hyped the tantalizing possibility that the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks was on the verge of publishing a set of documents that would doom Hillary Clinton’s chances in November. [snip] 

The group’s founder, Julian Assange, did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm, suggesting to Fox News hosts that his scoops could upend the race with documents “associated with the election campaign, some quite unexpected angles, some quite interesting.” 

The announcement by WikiLeaks that it would host a major news conference Tuesday only seemed to confirm that the bombshell was ready to burst. The pro-Trump, anti-Clinton media world rippled with fevered speculation. 

But if an October surprise about the Democratic nominee really is coming, it will have to wait a little longer. 

Over the course of two hours Tuesday — with the world’s media and bleary-eyed Trump die-hards across the United States tuning in — Assange and other WikiLeaks officials railed against “neo-McCarthyist hysteria,” blasted the mainstream press, appealed for donations and plugged their books (“40 percent off!”). 

But what they didn’t do was provide any new information about Clinton — or about anything else, really.

Once more: Hahahahaha!

Zippy the Pinhead doppelganger and Trump stooge Roger Stone had predicted this promised Assange leak would be the #OctoberSurprise that would surely scuttle the presidential hopes of Hillary Clinton! Yes, indeedy!

Wednesday@HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks.

— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) October 2, 2016

Excuse us again: HAHAHAHAHA!!

Other "bleary- eyed Trump die- hards" reacted in poo- flinging rage that their fondest dreams of a scuttled Clinton candidacy were dashed. Reactions here, here, and here are priceless examples of bubble- dwelling dimbulbs coming up with still more conspiracy theories about why they got #WikiRolled. Sad!

We're starting to wonder if Assange might have been one of Trump "University's" faculty members, since he seems to have a good grasp of how to fleece the rubes.

(Image:  democraticunderground.com)

Mueller Closing In On Degenerate Stone

We know that nothing related to the Mueller investigation has rattled unindicted co-conspirator and Russian supporter Donald "Rump" Trump more than the FBI's search and seizure of documents, telephone and electronic records from his fixer and thug Michael Cohen last month. But that may be about to change. Reports indicate that long-time dirty trickster and Rump confidant Roger Stone, for decades one of the most evil and scurrilous figures in Rethuglican politics, is a major focus of the Special Counsel. A second assistant to Stone, John Kakanis, has been subpoenaed by Mueller's team ostensibly to gain information about Stone's ties to Russian cutout organization WikiLeaks and its founder, the despicable fugitive Julian Assange. From the Reuters report:

"The subpoena handed to Kakanis is the latest development suggesting that Stone, an early Trump backer whose reputation as an aggressive political operative dates back to the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, is being looked at by Mueller. [snip]

Some of Stone’s comments during the elections have prompted questions from investigators in Congress, and others, about whether he had advance knowledge of the Democratic Party material allegedly hacked by Russian intelligence and sent to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who published it." (emphasis added)

Stone is on tape during the run up to the 2016 election as predicting damaging information on Hillary Clinton would be released by Assange's group, which was released shortly thereafter. The link goes directly from Russia's military intelligence arm GRU which hacked the DNC, to WikiLeaks/Assange which received the hacked e-mails, to Stone and the Rump campaign conspiring with them. It's more than smoke, it's fire.

There would be nothing more satisfying, save the removal of the Rump crime family from the White (Supremacist) House, than Stone's indictment and conviction on conspiracy and other charges. He's a cancer on not only politics, but on the things this nation is supposed to stand for.

(photo: A picture's worth a thousand words; swingers Stone and wife.)