The release of the superseding indictment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sent shock waves across the legal and media communities.
Unlike the initial indictment of Assange, which was limited to issues regarding computer intrusion that implicated criminal provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Thursday’s superseding indictment spans the gamut of charges under the Espionage Act relating to Assange’s efforts to solicit, receive and ultimately publish the enormous amount of classified materials leaked to him by Chelsea Manning back in 2010.
These new charges represent a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s war on leakers in a manner unprecedented in the 102-year lifespan of the Espionage Act: it is effectively the first real attempt to ever prosecute the publisher of the leaked classified information, as opposed to the leaker him or herself.