We have known since 2012 of a grand jury investigation into "conspiracy to communicate or transmit national defense information." A former lawyer for Assange, the late Michael Ratner, explained the middle section of a code (11-3/ 10GJ3793/ 11-937) marked on a subpoena related to the investigation: "10 is the year it began; GJ is grand jury; 3 is the conspiracy statute in the US and 793 is the espionage statute." The grand jury was investigating conspiracy in 2010, as Biden had suggested that December, in an effort to portray the Australian journalist as a non-passive recipient of the classified information he published.
The "hacking" indictment that was issued on the day of his arrest argues in strained language that Assange had conspired with his source, Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, to illegally obtain defense information. The indictment, however, admits Manning had security clearances to legally access the material.
The charge of conspiracy with Manning hangs solely on evidence that appeared at Manning's court marshal, a chat log between Nobody [Manning] and someone with the moniker Nathaniel Frank. That Manning was seeking help with a password hash from Frank has been held up as the evidence of conspiracy.
In the computer intrusion indictment of Assange, the U.S. claims:
"Cracking the password would have allowed Manning to log onto the computers under a usemame [sic] that did not belong to her. Such a measure would have made it more difficult for investigators to identify Manning as the source of disclosures of classified information."
This argument was seriously undermined on Day 14 of the September extradition hearing when forensic examiner Patrick Eller offered his expert testimony for the defense on the Manning conspiracy theory.
Eller said the U.S. couldn't prove, nor was he asked to prove, that the moniker Manning was conversing with was Assange. And Manning's top secret access was only permitted on her login, for which she had the password. Logging in as another "usemame," meant she would have been locked out.
Nor would logging in as another user have given Manning anonymity, as the government alleges, since the physical IP address of the terminal was recorded, regardless of who was logged in. From the Manning court-marshal, it emerged that the government knew who was on shift at the time. In light of Eller's testimony, the U.S. scenario of Assange's conspiracy with Manning was shown to be unfeasible.
The U.S. had heard earlier from the defense in February 2020 that Manning's purpose was probably to install video games, films and music videos on the lads' computers, which were forbidden to those on active duty. Eller testified to the same.
According to what Biden said in 2011, it was imperative for the U.S. to keep alive this apparently 'minor' computer charge that carries a maximum of five years in prison, compared to 170 years under the espionage charges. But it isn't minor. It is the hook that enables the charges of espionage, it smears Assange and it drives a wedge between him and support from an increasingly nervous mainstream media.
The Second Superseding Indictment
In June 2020, the Trump Department of Justice, apparently unsure that the computer intrusion charge in relation to Manning was strong enough to portray Assange as a hacker, issued a second superseding indictment that relied on the testimony of a WikiLeaks volunteer and later FBI informant, who said Assange had directed him to conduct hacking operations.
This evidence was apparently obtained by the FBI in 2011 when the witness was one of its informants. But it was not revisited until the Trump DOJ offered the witness immunity sometime in 2019, likely after the April 2019 issuing of the first computer indictment, which did not contain his testimony. It appeared first in the second superseding indictment of June 2020.
That the evidence did not appear in the first indictment might indicate its unreliability, because the key witness has now recanted the testimony in an interview last month with the Icelandic publication Stundin.
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