football narvi or else you can think i was going to go. by the way what is it that's like here i. called journalism under direct assault on the 1st amendment reaction from media freedom groups as u.s. authorities fall 17 new charges against julian assange each carrying up to 10 years in jail. and emotional treason make goals of the day and social step down as conservative party leader on june 7th. i do so with no ill will but with enormous during gratitude to attach the opportunity to serve the country i know. that president trump announces he's sending another 1500 troops to the middle east as tensions with iran balance but the number is much

lower than recent reports suggest. joining us this evening this is art. the decision by the u.s. justice department to slap julian a songs with 17 new charges has sparked the concern of media freedom groups. any government use of the espionage act to criminalize the receipts and publication of classified information poses a diet threat to journalists seeking to publish such information in the public interest irrespective of the justice department's assertion that the sun is not a journalist this is an extraordinary escalation of the trumpet ministrations attacks on journalists and a direct assault on the 1st amendment when a sound was dragged out of london's ecuadorian embassy last month and arrested by british police so. through the u.s.

extradition request immediately and it only listed one charge against him and that was a single count of conspiracy to have a computer and it carries a maximum charge of 5 years it's a fairly small fry but that has been padded out substantially now by washington the charges against him now list 17 counts of violating the espionage act and press freedom groups journalists whistleblower have condemned this escalation of the case the spinouts indictment of his son's football blissing is nick streamwood dangerous frontal attack on the free press bad bad bad the department of justice just declared war we can export our journalism it's over this is no longer a budget in the songs this case will decide the future of media this is madness it is the end of national security journalism and the 1st amendment all the additional 17 charges heat on a songe each carry a maximum of

a 10 year sentence which means that his adventure will sentence could be a 175 years in prison julian assange has been charged under the u.s. espionage act which dates back to 1917 and so far it's only ever been used against government officials who disclosed secret information it was never used to charge journalists who publish those secret documents assigned to the weekly team and of course the sponsor of the oil supported as i have always argued always only ever acted as a journalist which is something that the department of justice refuses to acknowledge and they say that songes revealed the names of military informants in war zones and thus put their lives at risk the superseding indictment alleges that a songe was complicit with chelsea manning a former intelligence analyst. the u.s.

army unlawfully obtaining a disclosing classified documents related to the national defense all of this is very much linked to chelsea manning who leaked the now notorious iraq war logs and manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison but was then heartened by then president barack obama back in 2017 she's now been subpoenaed to testify against a songe which she refuses to do so she's actually ended up back in custody as a result of that and this whole saga really entered its new legal phase last month when a songe was dragged out against his will from london's ecuadorian embassy the ecuadorian authorities revoked his claim to political asylum he's now serving out a 50 week sentence in a long in prison for skipping bail back in 2012 when he originally entered the embassy he's also wanted in sweden stockholm is about to go through the motions

of issuing their own extradition request because they want him to answer questions about an alleged sexual assault dating back to 2010 which is why here originally sought asylum in the embassy fearing he'd be extradited over to the u.s. and i think what's interesting here is that a songes a very mom might characters very divisive there are more there are some people who are more keen to see him as a hacker rather than a hero of sort of epic journalistic proportions and yet even there is that joint supported him have come out now and said wow this potted out more serious case against assad and from the u.s. authorities is very heavy handed he just revealed sillitoe missions that he's holding everyone. to make it. seems which may be still a good. i do not deserve that oh yes i've heard of it but i don't remember who he

is i'm from los angeles i have no idea he is in trouble but i have no idea why his wiki leaks secretly yet also read no us a neighbor they are hiding is the right guy throw a lot of secrets all over a lot of. which is upset a lot of people well he's revealed an awful lot of secrets of different governments around the world it's it's so long ago now that i can actually i can't remember the 1st thought he has done what he's done i'm sure he's paid for it and. the one year is about suitable probably and it should be protected from the american system whether you like it or not. there's no there's probably no legal perfect legal system in the world you know americans. really know i mean i think i hear it's

every 5 years now it's all about so much the question is whether he faces the north or not in the united states personally i think that. lunatic. what is an absolute travesty speed persecution this government is going off the reservation is staying the people realized that a mass class movement most information with people would be aware before him put yourself on the line for that he will sue anybody says otherwise is wrong. to remind you here are some of the biggest revelations made by songs over the years spike in 2010 thousands of documents and classified video related to the wars in iraq and afghanistan were made public league detailed among other things the indiscriminate shooting of civilians in iraq year later the so-called get files with field routine torture at the guantanamo bay camp and the deaths of inmates through harsh treatment and in turn the 16 wiki leaks revealed

a pro clinton media bias during the presidential campaign and the plot to push bernie sanders out of the race. the us media picked up on the mounting concern over these new charges against the sons questioning the move of the justice department. takes a closer look at the coverage. certainly there have been a number of voices who have come forward and expressed concern about freedom of the press and the implications of these charges against a son now it's important to note that the u.s. department of justice is insisting that julian assange is not a journalist however many of the voices that have stepped forward are saying that essentially that point doesn't really matter because what assad is accused of doing is what journalists do that would be publishing information making information available to the public now the new york times recently wrote an article on articles published by the new york times recently regarding the julian assange case

the new york times itself has in the past printed classified information provided by a leaker here is what was written in the new york times regarding the case notably the new york times among many other news organizations of precisely the same kinds of documents from wiki leaks without authorization from the government it is not clear how this is legally different from publishing other classified information now it's important to note that some of the voices now speaking up with concern regarding the julian assange case are voices that have not been telling us on just biggest fan in the past these are some of the very voices that have been harshly critical of wiki leaks and its activities but even they are voicing some very serious concerns in the aftermath of this new indictment this is a pretty aggressive new move by the justice department big deal here for a 1st amendment advocates the government is now trying to assert this brand new right to criminally prosecute people for publishing secret stuff and newspapers and magazines and investigative journalists and all sorts of different entities publish

secret stuff all the time that is the bread and butter of what we do now it should be pointed out that the charges against a songe have nothing to do with the 2016 elections or the publication of hillary clinton's e-mails the charges in no way raise that activity however it was chelsea manning who leaked that. classified information as a member of the u.s. military who ultimately was charged chelsea manning was found guilty at trial and sentenced to 35 years in prison now she was then released after barack obama commuted her sentence as he was leaving office chelsea manning at this point is back in federal custody is back in prison after having not been willing to testify against you in a songe before the grand jury however the founder of wiki leaks is songe now faces far more essentially 5 times as many years in prison as chelsea manning was originally sentenced to 35 years facing up to 175 years in prison so number of voices have spoken up about the implications of the use of the u.s.

espionage act a law passed in 1917 and at this point. even some voices that have joined in efforts to denigrate or smear julian assigned have come forward and said they are quite worried about the implications of these new charges so forces are waiting to see what could happen what could be the implications for freedom of the press in the united states if indeed songes extradited and then indeed does stand trial on these charges which seem to implicate him for the crime of publishing classified information that he was provided from a leaker from an inside source. ok let's discuss this now bring in some guests who go political commentator andrew walker kovan is the u.k. program director for the blueprint for free speech and we have counts terrorism expert jennifer breeden good evening to ladies and gentlemen. the justice department says this on these leaks have put people's lives at risk people they say were engaged in undercover operations now it's a big if 1st of all if that is true. then to be looking to punish.

that particular allegation like so much in this extraordinary indictment is basically reheated for chelsea manning school in 2012 and it's worth remembering that that particular claim was one. 1st during chelsea's court martial was no it was never proven at the court martial and information extracted from the us government via freedom of information request subsequently has shown that in the very extensive surveys the us government did after the manning disclosures they could not find a single person who had been harmed by those disclosures audrey the justice department says it respects journalists but is clearly aggressively pursuing a song how does that work are they going to try and make the argument that he's not a journalist. well look there is an important process that exists but within the united states in america and across the world although the 1st amendment the reserve right to be

a news gatherer and clearly when julian the songs go see united states of america assuming he does then there will be a court case to the supreme court's relates it's a lot but if you look at when bradley manning released all they say information he was ultimately paul didn't buy barack obama and that's because there's a procession cannot be allowed to happen he's when a group of people in the military in the intelligence services in government break the espionage laws now i don't know whether julian assange is a journalist or not so why do know is there in the united kingdom where required to carry a journalistic pass like this and the chap that's operating the camera has warm as well. obviously julian a solid does not have that he's not a properly accredited journalist it will be for the american courts to decide whether he was not of terrorism and the espionage or whether he is a genuine journalist my own view is that julian the sarge was dragged out of the

ecuadorian embassy like a scared badger in the headlights and actually the truth of matter was he has been afraid of making this case to a group of juries uncorks that actually properly constituted genuine and serious i think he needs to go to america and he needs to make his case in front of the american courts which may or they may not accept that he's a journalist but what you can't do is what he did when he ridiculed the united kingdom by hiding in the ecuadorian embassy remember he did the ecuadorian embassy for 7 years to get away from a 5 year prison sentence in sweden one day this guy doesn't deserve our respect but we deserve and the way that we get respect from him is that he should face up to the judicial process which he may well. jennifer brief so many questions that a lot of interconnected the a but i mean one of the main ones is ease julian this song as a journalist do you need

a lot of people who. revelations in the. secret information being published to credit to journalists. so the very dangerous president for the rest of the recognized media if. i think there's 2 very big implications here as we talked about the courts are going to be the u.s. courts are going to be looking at this so i'm an attorney in the united states and so i've followed some of the laws but there's 2 very big implications here not just with what the court is going to come down but what this actually means one is the growing changing body of law we're talking about the espionage act which is passed in world war one in the wake of world war one and now we have this explosion of laws regarding social media regarding online publications things like that and we need to start melding those together we need to start uniform having a uniform system of free speech freedom of the press freedom of platforms

protections for platforms number 2 a big implication we also have to look at the timing of this in conjunction with president trump's just allowing the attorney general of the united states bar to declassify a certain documents or these are going to be documents that are going to implicate some of the things that did show up on wiki leaks we're talking about things that could implicate treasonous acts and much larger things and so i don't think it's a coincidence that the timing is happening together but in terms of in terms of having an online platform julie is songe is generally the typical he's the typical creator and founder of a platform that did allow things so where as on its face we can see this is a violation perhaps of the espionage act there's also many more factors that now need to come in place certainly one of those going indications decency. the act which is another united states law that allows protections for platforms ok let's go ahead and tell you it's going to go on hang on can i can i can i just cannot just respond to that look the idea that the timing of this is related to president

trump and the frame actually is just a crazed conspiracy theory the timing of this is related to the ecuadorian president finally realizing that it is a joke that julia saunders a very did justice in london by hiding out in a 2 bedroom flat which is the ecuadorian embassy for 7 years the idea that this has everything to do with present job and nothing to do with what he wishes to release or not release is just mark knows the truth is julian the sausage has ridiculed the british state by hiding in the ecuador and ok under so if you're up here and right now and you're going to i'm going to you're married i might. ridicule you cannot let me respond to that yet if i may because there's a few points on which i'm very simply straight wrong and i think we should put the record straight here there is no question that the u.s. investigation of wiki leaks was restarted in 2017. after

a very large leak from the cia. might compare in his 1st speech as cia director actually came out specifically and said that wiki leaks that was under investigate was under investigation and the 1st indictment laid against julian assange not the one that came out last night the 1st one is precisely one that the obama administration had considered and decided not to late that was already started under trump that is not that is not in doubt secondly clearly innocent has been a member of australia's accredited journalism union since 2007 i think so let's put that one to bed and 2nd and thirdly i think it's a basic mark of respect to chelsea manning to get her name right and give her due respect on that score. if since she was never part of the administration i wish it had been her sentence was commuted between fiction conviction stands which is something that she is still being appealed and i believe in the way i. look don't

don't don't appear on television and force me to give respect to a traitor i have no respect for bradley manning he's a traitor but actually the truth the truth of the acts is that what you're talking about is the classic rule of the political left which is that if a government says something it must be true actually what i say as a conservative in a right wing easy these for the governments on the justice department to make the allegation and for the courts to make the decision i did i'd say julian the silence was guilty but nor did i come here and say he was innocent either what i said there is there is clearly a case to answer and let him not hide like a coward let him face those charges and so the question i was clear from the outset he may well win and if the dogs that not means by definition he's not guilty but that's not why you hide in the ecuadorian embassy what you do is you go to court

you answer the charges in terms of bradley manning i stand by my comments jennifer i want to. just want to jennifer because i think that important issue now some people say this is a direct attack on the 1st amendment we're seeing some of the u.s. the major u.s. media companies almost looked at leaving to his own just defense of it being quite critical of him because it seems like they're quite concerned they might be next how worrying is this situation for media companies. it's a very important case to follow again i mean if we call somebody a traitor and a coward yes we have made a judgment we have not allowed the courts to do that but we're talking we're talking a lot about 1st amendment issues and 1st amendment rights and it is very important to look at that i mean we're looking at social media mass banning censorship of certain political party. outputs certain media commentators and people that aren't even commentators and so we don't even have a line on media justification for censorship within twitter this is another

platform we're talking about these are laws that really need to be looked at the 1st amendment has a lot not just with twitter banning but with banning of other people and a lot of the people that are being banned are journalists are either freelance journalists or members of the media and some way and so this is a very important case to look at we have to start considering this because we have to see whether private companies private companies that you have investors in the u.s. that are tied to the government officials private companies that have any ties to government that are allowed to. speak go ok we want to give you the. go can i very very quickly very quickly and. look for for an american to appear on . an offer the conspiracy theory that the americans all dodgy when it comes to judge. is just pathetic she should be apologizing to the view is ok. to respond. facing bottles and so many fronts it's almost

a screw up between the u.s. and sweden to get their hands on it. is it a winnable situation given he has so many followers the butt out. oh i'm confident it's a winnable situation and you know i i think it's going to be a fight but i think i think he can win it because what has happened with this superseding indictment it makes the issues absolutely crystal clear by and i think that. the prosecution of julian the sun is part and parcel of trump's war on the free press full stop and i think the limited taken after that actually both in the u.s. and and here so i. somewhat optimistic about that you are right that he is facing battles on various fronts and it will be up to the u.k. home secretary to decide whether. any new extradition requests from sweden as a court hearing i believe in a slot on the 3rd of june will be able to take precedence over the u.s.

case and that's something that's going to be worth watching very carefully my opinion is that i don't think it's completely stupid to say that you should face the investigation in sweden i think that they're understanding the reasons for saying that i think that needs to be treated as an entirely separate issue however so i do think that any started you are that should give precedence to the swedish request it's of the utmost importance that he also gives an undertaking that the british government will not allow an attempt to do it from sweden to the united states i think that's terribly important and that takes that to maintain the integrity of the process and i just want to very briefly if i may ask you just 30 seconds each give the give you the guest a chance just to give an assessment jennifer i know we've said you know it's up to the courts to decide but given your expertise how do you rate his chances of a prison. i think if you look at the elements of the espionage act itself and what's happened i mean this this could seem like

a case where there could be some issues that he has to face and that he has to own up to name. as was mentioned with with other jurisdictions with other countries with with people's lives that may have been put at risk but there also is the the facts that have come out that they haven't seen a lot of people who were who were either killed or damaged in the light of duty because of this so there have to look at actual damages and harm that this caused i think this is going to be a much bigger case and people imagine look at the end of the day i could scream and cry and insult others and just and just sit there and sob and baton baying my feet like a baby in call conspiracy theory when i don't like something but there are facts there are laws and all of that is going to be assessed very soon ok finally andre i'm not going to ask you how you think this will turn out it's clear you want the courts to decide but given and use maybe it's. quite a comfortable stay the hospital hospitality of the u.k. should not be taken into account in any possible sentence the fact he's been locked up for several years effectively the rest. should absolutely be taken into account

the way that he spent 7 years ridiculing the british state and had to be dragged out like mad lights look this isn't a conspiracy theory we all the western world most people around the world would dream of living in a place where the research for democracy the rule of law and genuine courts julian of song he's pretending that britain and america are like north korea so we're all the gas support regimes i think that's marvelous i think it's a really bad thing i think julian song should do is do to make his case and good luck to him. well i appreciate all of you for joining me this evening and for your forthright opinions my guests to walk a political commentator know me call the u.k. program director for blueprint for free speech and jennifer breeden counter terrorism expert it was a pleasure thank you guys. just enough time to have a quick word about briggs it which is claimed a 2nd prime ministerial sculp speaking outside 10 downing street to reason may

express regret she failed to get a deal over the line despite her best efforts she'll step down as tory leader on june 7th and remain leader until a success is chosen as may have made the announcement she was overcome with emotion . so i am today announcing that i will resign as leader of the conservative and unionist party on friday the 7th of june i will shortly leave the job that it has been the honor of my life to hold. the 2nd female prime minister but certainly not the last i do so with no ill will but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country i love. on the beginning of a premiership trees may said goal was to deliver briggs it a task see ultimately found impossible with m.p.'s rejecting a deal 3 times the draw agreement she negotiated with the european union's been

criticised by people right across the political spectrum earlier this week she announced she'd 4th effort to get it passed and often plays a chance to vote on a 2nd referendum if they backed or briggs it goes next difficult to tell what becomes of the official conservative stance depends on who succeeds to resume a labor the main opposition accepts the referendum result it wants a deal but not may's ukip and briggs it party are advocating a so-called briggs it were britain quits the e.u. single market the liberal democrats the green party and change you k. or want to reverse sprigs it and have a 2nd referendum mark almond style rect of britain's crisis research institute in oxford he says the country faces uncertainty and chaos. it's going to be a difficult task because the house of commons is still strongly against leaving the e.u. except on terms which involve remaining in a customs union almost certainly so that there's going to be

a disconnect between the tory party members and supporters and presumably the people who defected to the briggs's party who are mainly conservatives who want a serious break with europe and the members of parliament and so unless you change the arithmetic in the house of commons whoever succeeds mrs may if they want to leave the e.u. was going to face huge problems in same sort can they force a new general election what will be the result of that we don't know but there's going to be a great deal of uncertainty and as i say there's this looming deadline of the 31st of all which is the end of the extension of britain's membership and the british politicians seem to forgotten that in the modern world divorce can be initiated from both sides the remaining members of the will pinion may decide we find you too much trouble we want you to leave now and so that could be a chaotic disorderly brigs that. more u.s. troops will be sent to the middle east to maintain this situation in the region president from confirmed the news in the last few hours but the numbers being sense are lower than recent reports that suggested. we want to have protection of the

middle east we're going to be sending a relatively small number of troops mostly protect do. some very talented people are going to the middle east right now and we'll see how it works see what happens. it'll be about 1500 people. diplomatic staff were ordered to leave iraq recently the u.s. military raise the threat level in the region after iraq it reportedly is an abandoned building near the u.s. embassy tensions come after iran suspended its commitments under the 2015 international nuclear deal it threatened to resume production of enriched uranium used to make reactor fuel a nuclear weapons deal and to lift the. actions on iran in exchange for an end to its nuclear program that the u.s. unilaterally withdrew from what it called the defectives agreement last year and reimpose sanctions recent days the u.s.

deployed an actress carrier to the region washington insists it has intelligence reports about iran backed forces threatening u.s. personnel but as yet presented no for the details spy that both tehran and washington claim they don't want to start a war in anyway. i just professor lecturer from american university had meant ghareeb believes the champ is sending a clear message to tehran. this is a situation that's still fluid we don't know all that's going to blow this is clearly a message the president is sending internally. to go on of course. is really more forces to protect its interests in the area but at the same time he sent you a message that this is not really an escalation you. see.