assange arrested just hours ago. this was the scene -- arrested by british police in the ecuadorian embassy. it leads to new questions about who can be considered a journalist and what assange may say about his role in the 2016 election. we should emphasize that new indictment does not cover the 2016 election. following his arrest, the white house declining to comment. the president so far has been noticeably silent. let's start with our nbc reporters. matt bradley is in london. ken delainian is with us from washington. matt, tell us about this court experience and what could we expect to hear from assange's attorneys when they take to the microphones moments from now? >> reporter: well, we're expecting that as you said in the next couple of minutes. right outside the courtroom, it's a festival atmosphere. there's lots of people showing up and protesting. moments ago, julian assange was wearing a black suit, his white hair was tied into a ponytail. he gave a smile to reporters. what we heard from the judge was he was

. >> what changed for julian assange? he had been in the ecuadorian embassy for so long. why now? >> well, we are seeing the escalation of the pressure in the trump administration to have him extradited and the pressure has been mounted on ecuador to push him outside the embassy. we don't know how far this has gone in terms of relations between the u.s. administration and the uk administration, but this has been escalating in the last few weeks and even days and we knew that this was imminent. what we now have is out, what we've wanted all along, that a publisher and a journalist is now being indicted for publishing truthful information about war crimes and other issues pertaining to the wars in iraq and afghanistan, and that is of serious concern. this is a serious attack on the freedom of the press and should be noted as such. >> we're watching the moment that julian assange was taken from the ecuadorian embassy. he's saying something, he's trying to yell something, but do you know what he was saying? >> no. >> all righ

assange arrested.r of wikileaks appearing inside a london courtroom moments ago. he was, of course, arrested this morning. we're going to take a look at what charges he might face here in the united states. the charges he currently faces. we'll take you to that courtroom outside the courthouse, at least, when his attorneys speak there. >>> back here the contenders hitting the trail with senator kamala harris who will be attending a campaign house party in iowa soon. what she is saying to do about that controversial new medicare for all bill. >>> and bracing for battle. one city's response to massive gun violence. now that response under attack by the national rifle association. we'll dig into that a little bit later. >>> let's start with that breaking news. a fast moving day for julian assange. right now the weikileaks founde in a courtroom. moments ago assange, convicted of skipping bail about an hour after the u.s. justice department accused him on conspiring with convicted leaker chelsea manning, th

she -- assange. in december 2010, the lady that is now the shadow home secretary was openly tweeting her support for mr. assange. she might want to touch on the leadership she is receiving from her own front bench. i know the home secretary is an advocate for home freedom. is it not the case that responsible journalists do not play fast and loose with the national interest and put out people in danger when that should not be happening? my honorable friend, a distant which formal journalist himself, is absolutely right. press freedom in this country is sacrosanct. what we find is that people work in this press in this country are responsible. speaker, i find it extraordinary that somebody this rich and powerful can just avoid an allegation of being a rapist in the way that julian assange has done for so many years. costing so much taxpayer money. can the home secretary tell us who is paying the bill for the 13.2 million pounds that julian assange has cost us? is it the people of london? does it come f

assange. the home secretary will note that he complained to the u.n. that he was being unlawfully detained because he could not leave the embassy without being arrested. in 2016, the u.n. panel ruled in his favor stating that he had been arbitrarily detained and should be allowed to walk free. and compensated for this loss of liberty. the foreign officers responded by saying, this ruling changes nothing. it was the foreign officer who responded, not the home office or the minister of justice. it is of course interested in relations with allies and others. we have precedent in this country relation to requests for extradition to the u.s. when the u.s. authorities have issues of hacking and national security. i would remind the house of a case in october 2012. when the current prime minister was home secretary. an extradition request very similar to this one was refused and we should recall what wikileaks actually did. who could forget the pentagon footage of a missile attack in 2007 which kille

assange putting feces on the wall of the embassy. >> the police then took assange to court where he wasound guilty of breaching bail in an earlier case, but britain and assange's lawyers confirmed the arrest relates to an extradition request from the united states. >> since 2010, we have warned that julian assange would face prosecutors, extradition to the united states for his publishing activities with wikileaks. unfortunately today we have been proven right. we've received a warrant and a provisional request from the united states, alleging that he has conspired with chelsea manning in relation t to the materials published by wikileaks in 2010. >> the u.s. justice department accuses assange of conspiriring with former u.s. army intelligence analyst chelsea manning to break into the pentagon computer. assange has long said washington wants to punish him because wikileaks published critical documents. assange's lawyers say the arrest sets a dangerous precedent for the rights of journalists and that they will fight his extradition to the united states. brent: for more now, let's go to o

assange. >> reporter: offering no comment on the arrest of wikileaks founder julian assange. despite repeatedly praising the organization when it released damaging information on hillary clinton. today the president said he's leaving the matter in bill barr's hands. >> i don't really have any opinion. i know the attorney general will be involved in that and he'll make a decision. >> reporter: while top officials in his government have denounced wikileaks as a hostile intelligence service, trump didn't see it that way during his campaign. when wikileaks was publishing thousands of emails stolen from the democratic national committee. >> this just came out. wikileaks, i love wikileaks. another one came in today. this wikileaks is like a treasure trove. i love reading those wikileaks. >> reporter: trump quiet about assange today but plenty to say about the stunning assertion his attorney general made yesterday. >> hard to believe it could have happened. but it did. there was spying in my campaign

julian assange we can see we can see banners they're saying free julian assange that's one of them black and black and white big big poster showing julian assange just face it does look like the crowd is the crowd is grow. and you know we do have our our correspondent in the boy. she will be joining us. with the updates including on the size of the crowd and the size of the crowd for joining us. now and so this is something. this shapes out throughout the day i am. international when you own the latest on the arrest of julian assange video agency weapon he was filming outside of the ecuadorian embassy morning this thursday morning as judith was arrested and it captured the moment a disheveled and distressed looking i saw it was carried out by british police officers harris. life. let's bring in another guest now we're joined by spanish journalist vincent runs the web go on line portal and is considered an internet pioneer welcome to the program. quite an extraordinary day thus. all of us really one can't you know expect to happen next do you think the u.k. will extradite him is just face

assange is being charged by the u.s. for trying to hack into a defense department computer back in 2010. and in 2010, it was really difficult to hack the government system because the password was password1. you expected password, but the 1 threw everyone off. and you may be thinking, wait, i don't get it. if he was hacked in 2010 yis assange only being arrested now? well, you see, for the last seven years, assange has been protected by living in the ecuadorian embassy, but, apparently, ecuador has discovered that hackers make terrible houseguests. >> why was that asylum lifted overnice? >> there have been report for some time that assange had sort of outlived his welcome there in the embassy, for all sorts of reasons, including he was skateboarding in the hall, stealing wifi. his cat was making a mess. the ecuadorians were getting sick of having him there. >> trevor: okay, okay, we're going to come back to that "business-casual cat." ( laughter ) but the first thing i need to know is why the hell was julian assange skat

press freedom advocates condemned assange's arrest. amy: julian assange u.s. attorney said, "it is bitterly disappointing that a country what allow someone to whom it has extended citizenship and asylum to be arrested in its embassy. first and foremost, we hope the u.k. will now give mr. assange access to proper health care, which he has been denied for seven years. once his health care needs have been addressed, the u.k. courts will meet to resolve what appears to be in a president it effort by the united states seeking to extradite a foreign journalist to face criminal charges for publishing truthful information." that is julian assange's u.s. attorney. the head of reporters without borders tweeted -- "targeting assange because of wikileaks provision of information to journalists that was in the public interest would be a punitive measure and would set a dangerous precedent for journalists or their sources that the u.s. may wish to pursue in future." nsa whistleblower edward snowden tweeted -- "images of ecuador's ambassador inviting the u.k.'s secret police

mr assange denied the claims.be extradited to sweden. he said that he feared sweden would hand him over to us authorities, who could prosecute him for publishing the classified military documents, and injune 2012, he took refuge in the ecuadorian embassy in london. he requested, and was later granted, political asylum. in may 2017, swedish prosecutors closed their sexual assault investigation into assange, but british police said they would still arrest him if he left the embassy because he had breached the terms of his bail. today, british police arrested assange at the embassy after his asylum was withdrawn by ecuador. this afternoon, he was brought before westminster magistrates and remanded into custody after being convicted of skipping bail. he now faces extradition to the us. earlier, julian assange‘s uk lawyer jennifer robinson and the editor in chief of wikileaks, kristinn hrafnsson, made this statement outside of westminster magistrates court. since 2010, we‘ve warned that julian assange would face prosec

headlines at 10: more than 70 mp5 and peers sign a letter urging the government to ensure julian assange faces authorities in sweden — if they request his extradition. police fire shots and arrest a man outside the ukrainian embassy in london, after the ambassador‘s car is deliberately rammed. a ten—year—old boy has died after being attacked by a dog at a holiday park in cornwall. sudan's new leader — its third in three days — calls for dialogue with all factions and offers the release of political prisoners. and at 10:30, we'll be taking a look at the papers with our reviewers nigel nelson and jo phillips. good evening. welcome to bbc news. more than 70 mps and peers have called on the government, to ensure that the wikileaks co—founder, julian assange, faces justice in sweden if the authorities there re—open a rape investigation against him, on charges he denies. the united states has already requested that the uk hand over mr assange to them to answer a charge of computer hacking leading to one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets. here's our political correspondent, chris

julian assange. exposed the world secret documents. being attacked by the united states strongly condemning. illegally shoot. a hundred days ago being detained without charge but that. today. is to change the world tomorrow. is the arab spring the enactment of a dream and impossible fantasy this week cut through the spin and speak directly to two leading revolutionaries from cairo i speak to write an activist. imprisoned and now banned from travel he has become the icon of a relation betrayed joining me under house arrest. the director of the brain center for human rights and one of the most important figures in the bahraini uprising i want to ask them about the revolutions across the middle east had they been successful crushed captured or concealed and what motivates them to continue to put their lives on the one. you see me as we have here. a. little worried about you. yeah yeah he is out now but. none of us set out maybe not. so well what happened in the past couple of weeks when we called you to try and get you over here i mean yo

i mean julian assange. it is true when he wakes expose the world secrets these jackets belong the united states government been attacked by the powerful united states strongly condemn this quote after quote people illegally shoot five hundred days now i being detained without charge but that doesn't stop them. today on the quest for revolutionary ideas that can change the world tomorrow. with chavez and lula out of the public on a new generation of latin american leaders has a reason this week i am joined by the president of ecuador. korea korea is a lifting populist who has changed the face of equitable but unlike his predecessors he holds a ph d. in economics according to u.s. embassy cables caray is the most popular president and ecuador's democratic history but in two thousand and ten he was taken hostage in an attempted coup d'etat people aims the coup attempt on corrupt media and has launched a controversial counter offensive correia says the media defines what reforms are possible i want to know you

assange and his lawyers say the u.s. is trying to infringe on his journalistic freedoms, though the indictment accuses him of helping manning hack into government systems, which isn't journalism. the hacking is what they say is the crime, not the publication. folks, this is obviously a huge story, not just because of what assange has done with wikileaks and who he has perhaps done it for, but also because of what he knows. in addition to his role in the chelsea manning leaks and the edward snowden case, assange is at the nexus of some of the most enduring mysteries surrounding the russian investigation. senior trump campaign officials were seeking information about wikileaks for feature releases, according to the special counsel's indictments. and the president referred to wikileaks more than 140 times, although now, he's claiming, i know nothing about wikileaks. we're going to have more on that in a moment. u.s. authorities in both the obama and trump administrations made it clear they view assange as a russian intellig

assange. we don't know exactly when that will be and what exactly those will be, but this is a case, as you know, that has been going on for a long time, including obviously during the obama administration where they looked at whether they could charge julian assange and wikileaks as something other than a jou journalistic organization and publisher. news organizations worked with wikileaks to publish some of that information. some of that had begun changing towards the end of the obama administration and certainly under jeff sessions as attorney general, they made a new legal finding, and they decided they could. some of that, kate, has to do with evidence they were able to recover. the fbi was able to find, recover communications that they say shows that julian assange was more than just a publisher. he was more than just receiving this information. he was an active participant conspiring to try to get into these computers. that's the reason why you see these charges finally today. >> evan,

as well as to assange's freedom. let's break down the case and then cocertains. big night. let's get after it. >> yes. i am. i think what he said was absolutely true. there was absolutely spying into my campaign. i'll go a step further with my opinion it was illegal spying, unprecedented spying. >> of course potus is happy. he finally has an attorney general that says what he wants him to say. bill barr accuses his own people of spying, admittedly without proof. democrats are demanding he retract and apologize. we have one of them. senator blumenthal joins us now. let's deal with this first. the ag says i think there was spying. do you believe he knows that and does it matter? >> he knows it's explosive, incindiary. he knows it because he's been in the department of justice before now and his purpose had to be to give the president the ammunition that he used today to fuel this crack pot conspiracy theory that there was spying by the fbi on him. >> now explain why. people are watching this, surveillance, spying, what

assange, i have never been a fan. kennedy: regardless, judge in england called him a selfish narcissist and sentenced him to a year behind bars are skipping bail. does the u.s. have a case? or prosecutors trying to silence a vocal critic of u.s. government? joining me now, our analyst, judge andrew napolitano. >> nice to be with you. kennedy: let's talk about this, people like assange they elicit different reactions from different people, those of us who' more government transparency but often times government stewards are not guest to bring necessary information to public. enter in people like assange and snowden. do they play an important part in information we entitled to how we get it. >> a vital part. look, federal government of united states of america, operating biggest domestic spy agency on the planet be 60,000. when someone spies on federal government and reveals what they are doe doing, the federal government locks them up. what asarch assange was not stea secret but reveal a secret. that act of revelation

julian assange is in a london courtroom right now. just moments ago, the u.s. government charged him with conspiracy to commit computer invagz, ie hacking. this is back in 2010, related to chelsea manning. the indictment alleges he helped manning facilitate, right, manning, of course, a former intelligence officer in the army. facilitate crack the password on classified documents. >> it was quite a scene to see assange dragged out against his will of the ecuadorian embassy, his refuge for the past seven years, afraid of this, being arrested by uk authorities. let's get to both cnn's evan perez. esa suarez in london outside court. to you, first, because assange has been in court now, opportunity to plead. what did we hear from him? >> well, in fact, it's just wrapped up in the last minute or so. he's been removed from court. we're expecting wikileaks to come out and give a statement any moment now, but i can tell you that assange will be remanded in custody. we're told from our producer inside the courtroom, until there is an extradition hearing. that hearing, a

julian assange arrested. the uk home secretary thanking ecuador with drawing his asylum, taking away his shield. now he faces justice. he'll be in court momentarily. >> so many questions for him regarding a series dating back from 2010 through the election. a lot of breaking news covered for you this morning. thanks for joining us on an extraordinary breaking news day. >> "new day" picks it up now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. this is "new day." it's thursday, april 11, 6:00 in new york. breaking news. just moments ago, a huge development. london police tell us they just arrested wikileaks founder julian assange. assange took refuge inside ecuador's embassy in london where he spent seven years to avoid extradition over a sexual assault case. the initial assault case has been dropped since. >> we are told assange is in a police station and is expected in court soon. this is obviously a developing story. we'll bring you all of

julian assange is wanted in connection with a federal charge of. conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified u.s. government computer now they elaborate on this and they're saying that effectively he stayed in touch with the chelsea manning at the time bradley manning ordered classified and secret documents and he encouraged the chelsea manning to provide to basically send as many copies of the docking to copy and why a transfer or just transfer as many documents as possible to the we can leaks for that we can leads to eventually release that now i want to make a brief pause here brief stop and we have in fact we prepared a short clip as to what those afghanistan and iraq document leaks eventually were about let's have a look. but . we're going to. be safe collect any data from the mill you know sure. wiki leaks walks like a hostile intelligence sort of. like a hot or cold turkey. but those revelations they had such a tremendous impact all that everybody you know those who love him and chunky and hand an

so we got a statement from assange's u.s. lawyer who said, quote -- i think we have a bit of his statement -- that says it is bitterly disappointing that a country would allow someone to whom it has extended citizenship and asylum to be arrested in its embassy. the uk courts will need to resolve what appears to be an unprecedented effort -- i think we have more of this -- by the united states to speak and to extradite a foreign journalist to face charges for publishing truthful information. now, obviously, there is an extradition process that will be ongoing in london and then once he's brought here, if the u.s. wins extradition, obviously he will go on trial here in the united states, but, guys, one of the things that i wanted to mention was, you know, you showed a list of some of the things that are associated with wikileaks. one of the important ones is the 2017 hack of cia hacking tools, i think that's one of the key parts of this that the justice department used to change its opinion about charging julian assan assange.

assange. >> nawaz: assange's work has long been the subject of intense debate. to his supporters, theac australian hr is a champion of free speech. to his critics-- a national security threat. those competing legacies stem ntom his involvement in one of the biggest govern leaks in u.s. history. the 2010 leak by assange and wikileaks released classified n cuments on u.s. activity in afghanistan, andaq, including a graphic video of a u.s. army helicopterlt on suected militants who turn outo be civilians. they also published more than 250,000 diplomatic cables, that sent the obama administration and foreign diploms reeling. those leaks put manning in jail; her sentence was commuted by president obama, and she was beleased in 2017, only to re-imprisoned in 2019. assange also published on wikileaks top-secret information stolen by c.i.a. contractor edward snowden, about the scope of u.s. government surveillance. snowden fled to russia and was granted asylum himself. the 2016 presidential election put the spotlight back o assange and wikileaks.li they ped damaging ema

assange in the police cells. he wants to thank all his supporters for their on-going support and he said i told you so. >> his lawyer claims that assange who started wikileaks was acting as a journalist and is protected under the first amendment. >> any journalist can be extradited for publishing truthful information about the united states. >> u.s. prosecutors charge his role in the leak went much farther, agreeing to help manning cracking a password to gain access to the classified information. among the secret material released by wikileaks was a video in 2007, u.s. air strike that killed a dozen iraqis, including two men working for reuters news agency. u.s. officials and assange critics accuse him of putting american national security at risk as well as threatening military forces, diplomats, and covert sources. >> i repeatedly condemned the guy. he will be offered a fair trial, wheels of justice are finally turning. he has never been a hero. he released classified information and put our troops in danger. >

i've seen what has happened with assange. that will be a determination i would imagine mostly by the attorney general who is doing an excellent job. he will be making a determination. i know nothing really about him. it's not my deal in life. >> the seven-page virginia indictment was filed under seal in march. it accuses as song of one of the largest compromises of classified information in u.s. history. it states that the wikileaks founder engaged with chelsea manning to crack a defense department computer network password. the indictment reads in part at the time that he entered into this agreement, assange knew that manning was providing records of wikileaks containing defense training. assange was receiving classified reports from manning for the purpose of publicly disclosing them on wikileaks website. he said -- >> a former head of homeland security and defense department general counsel told "fox and friends" that the legal picture is complicated. >> there may be a claim that what he was doing was legitimate journalist

so why all the hostility to julian assange?e will let the former democratic staffer and jim explain, we will let jim pseudo-explain. he is central to central election experience, and he central also to questions about what the trump administration or trump campaign new prior to the release of those materials. he's central to questions about what the trump campaign new prior to the release of those materials and what were the communications? it is possible president trump himself not particularly excited about. >> it's remarkable to watch, it's be will be will drilling, actually. that was also when they didn't applaud the arrest of journalist publishing information. in 1971 "the washington post" and "new york times" published a trove of stolen classified documents about the vietnam war which is called the pentagon papers. remember that? liberals loved it. books were written celebrating their bravery. as early as 2011, they said it "a convictiony. of julian assane would cause collateral damage to american media freedoms. a post o

will not extradite julian assange to the united states is very unlikely. the united states has confirmed that it requested the extradition of julian assange he's accused there of conspiring to hack a government computer with whistleblower chelsea manning the justice department says he could face up to five years in prison auntie's kadam open reports. interestingly we have heard from the u.s. president u.s. president donald trump has been asked about the arrest of julian assange and wiki leaks and he gave an interesting answer and that answer is a little bit different than the answer he gave on the campaign trail let's take a listen i know nothing about wiki leaks it's not my thing and i know there is something having to do with julian i've been seeing what happened with a song that will be a determination i would imagine mostly by the attorney general who's doing an excellent job so he'll be making a determination i know nothing really about him it's not my it's not my deal in life wiki leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks. it's been amazing what's coming out on wi

i mean julian assange. it is true what he makes of expose the world secrets these documents belong the united states government being attacked by the powerful united states strongly condemn this i question why do people illegally should just go five hundred days now i being detained without charge but that hasn't stopped by. today we are on a quest for revolutionary ideas to can change the world tomorrow or. this week i have to visit his most and big was imprisoned for using guantanamo as an al qaeda suspect after pressure from the u.k. he was released without charge in two thousand and five. together with naseem caray she's a former corporate lawyer he now campaigns for the war on terror detainees with the organization cage prisons the rule of law and due process is essential to their campaign and i want to know how this fits in to be sure real if the muslim people form to suit the state what would the legal system look like. when you were in guantanamo you signed a confession i was prepared to fight along

apparently manning sent assange a portion of his password and assange used his computer hacking skills, according to this indictment, or called upon others to help manning break it, and then manning used that, you know, to download these many tens of thousands of highly classified documents, which as keir said, had an incredible impact and betrayed a lot of u.s. government secrets. nonetheless, was highly classified. so assange is not charged with publishing the information or even obtaining it, but charged with conspiring to hack a defense department venue. >> are there any indication of actual charges allegedly by russia, when it said was passed on to wikileaks. >> that's important to clair. there's nothing in this document that says that. not so say it's not of interest to the u.s. government. if they ever get him back here and they charge him and heents up facing years of prison, does he have useful information. obviously rob mueller we can presume would not have finished his investigation if he thought assange held the key to it all. assange knows some things that might be use to

>> assange is some goofy australian lefty.f this was a real intelligence community, then chelsea manning wouldn't haven't been able to walk out with all that stuff, just download it and take it out. there were 4 million people with top-secret intelligence glances in this country and that the population the size of new zealand. top-secret clearances to 4 million people, it's not intelligence in the intelligence community on the first place. >> tucker: i don't know why i'm laughing, it's so grim that it's tragic. so the recklessness with which they manage our country, but i don't feel safe. >> you shouldn't feel safe. i listen to blumenthal, ben sasse saying, this guy should be going to jail forever. americans, flip it around, americans should be up in arms so that london would expedite a u.s. citizen to australia for publishing australian intelligent secrets. you look at it the other way around, americans would rightly see this as a gross infringement on the freedom of american citizens. i hope this english judge who has asked

assange was aggressive. he'd ride scooters in the embassy, play soccer indoors and blast loud music late into the night. assange apparently tried to block the embassy security cameras as well, and then install his own. all behavior that only made it far easier for ecuador to kick him out. >> alex marquardt, thanks so much. >>> let's chew over this. phil mud, a former fbi and cia official. what do you make of the news? >> what a complete fraud this is going to be. this is going to be portrayed as a freedom of speech issue. there are legitimate issues related to freedom of speech in this country that go back to the vietnam war and before. note what the indictment says. it doesn't talk necessarily about publication of classified material. it talks about hacking with a password into classified websites. so we want to translate hacking into publication of material. would you like it if somebody hacked into your email information and said this is about learning about cnn, but i illegally hacked into jake tapper? l

assange faces five years in usjailas but they... ends but they are concerned about the possible implications for journalism. are concerned about the possible implications forjournalism. look, go back here a bit. the guardian and assange worked very closely together back on the original investigation based on the wikileaks material. they will have a more some pathetic attitude in that respect. it's very important —— they will have a sympathetic attitude. our concerns, andi sympathetic attitude. our concerns, and i think they are quite legitimate concerns, are about protection of whistle—blowers, for whistle—blowers who expose wrongdoing for stub journalism is based on this, that you don't reveal your sources, you have based on this, that you don't reveal your sources, you have some based on this, that you don't reveal your sources, you have some sort of integrity of how you go about your profession. assange is not actually a journalist. he is a hacker. very clever the us have charged him on a very specific issue, obtaining material f

jerome corsi is here on the news that the wikileaks founder, jewell assange -- julian assange, has beenested. and the state with some of the highest taxes in the country is using taxpayer money to foot the bill so illegals can go to college. i mean, hey, what about the american kids whose families can't afford it? how about them? do they matter? "trish regan primetime" begins right now. ♪ ♪ trish: tonight, the by rom city -- hypocrisy of the dems on full display, terrified that the investigation they insisted on having, an investigation they believed would prove the president of the united states to be an agent of russia, is about to backfire. on them! the attorney general is now on record saying spying did occur. the question now, what was the spying predicated upon? this is a question every american citizen should want to know the answer to, right? i mean, as americans we have zero tolerance when it comes to spying on innocent citizens, our freedom, our privacy. these are things that are inherently american. regardless of party affiliations. and yet the democrats, the same people that

i spoke to assange's lawyers yesterday. they said he feared an extradition request and would have stepped out had he had any assurance there wasn't going to be one. obviously things didn't end in the fashion they had planned. >> that's for sure. nina, please bring us updates from the scene there. >>> joining us now is evan perez, our cnn senior justice correspondent who has been following the case for a long time. jeffrey toobin and phil mudd. evan, why today? and what is julian assange charged with or do we not know that? >> we don't know yet what the charges that the united states has under seal. if you remember back in november prosecutors in the eastern district of virginia accidentally posted a document that revealed there were existing charges against julian assange. so that's all we know at this point. we expect that the justice department is going to seek extradition. obviously, alisyn, you know -- you guys know he's played a role and wikileaks played a role in a lot of things including diplomatic cables leaked in 2

assange gets prosecuted. >> julian assange has put american lives at risk. fair legal process but one that judges whom based on the national security breaches that have happened in this country. >> intelligence folk sayings it was very dangerous to our troops overseas and a reminder that when you break the law, eventually the u.s. is going to come after you. >> but the pentagon papers' opinion and the supreme court and lower court opinions that i followed it could not be clearer: the crime is committed by the thief. it is not committed by the publisher -- >> even if he is helping him try to crack the password to the u.s. department computer? >> we have not seen a charge like this before. the charge to me is he's helping him get the information to him and the underlying thing that upset the government is a revelation of a painful truth. >> that's what the government is trying to do. they are trying to separate out his journalism work from his alleged lawbreaking. but i agree. i'm not sure they are doing such a good job with this or the president established o

this afternoon, assange was brought to westminster magistrates' court. thumbs—up to supporters outside. and inside, he waved to the public gallery. but the judge called him a narcissist, with a laughable defence, and found him guilty of failing to surrender to the court in 2012. he was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a later date. he's also facing conspiracy charges in the united states, relating to a massive leak of government secrets almost a decade ago. this sets a dangerous precedent for all media organisations and journalists in europe and elsewhere around the world. this precedent means that any journalist can be extradited for prosecution in the united states, for having published truthful information about the united states. the wikileaks website that julian assange founded has, over the years, published hundreds of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents, many from the us. revelations that government officials argued put lives at risk. perhaps the most disturbing leak was this video, of a us military helicopterfiring a

julian assange. it is true for she reeks of expose the world secret these documents belong to states government being attacked by the united states strongly condemn the question . illegally. five hundred days now being detained without charge. that doesn't stop them. today we want to question the revolutionary ideas that can change the world. during the year the middle east has been shaken by real movement. is the country where it all started. today i talked to the first president of the new to near zero .

so you've heard how many feathers julian assange roughed up over there in washington and so from the from the release by the department of justice they're saying that well he faces a maximum of just five years in prison if he's found guilty and they actually hint that it could be even less than that even fewer years than that because they're saying that actual sentences in federal crimes they usually prove to be less than the maximum sentence but i mean a lot of people have already had to say quite a few. you words about that like for example john kiriakou a veteran whistleblower who as you've mentioned before he appears on our programs quite regularly he's basically said that a fair trial in the eastern district of virginia and a judge leonie brinkema. is utterly impossible they don't call the espionage court like a spanish court for of for nothing also we've had glenn greenwald and i mean john kerry arco he's well he's felt the full brunt he's felt the full impact of the u.s. justice system when it comes to whistleblowers personally glenn greenwald for instance he's also said that

actually put a few years ago to mr assange.dropped in 2017, and the reason that it was dropped is that the swedish authorities were not able to formally notify him because he was at that time in the ecuadorian embassy in london, and so that's why it was dropped. now, as far as we know, the swedish authorities are looking at whether or not they want to put the case again. they haven't formally asked for extradition proceedings to begin yet, so, you know, i suppose this these various mps kind of getting ahead of things before perhaps it goes down that route. but essentially you could be in a situation where if you've got the us asking for him to be extradited there and you've got sweden asking for him to be extradited to sweden, then home secretary would be in a position to make the decision as to, you know, which takes of those takes precedence. if sweden and the united states both make extradition requests againstjulian assange, it will be the home secretary's decision over which county's request takes precedence. —— country's

police dragged julian assange from news one safe haven and placed him under arrest . not some of the law no hero while the british prime minister and officials. just saddam loving community brian's it's a dog day for journalists. is increasing it means that any journalist can be extradited for prosecution in the united states for having published truthful information about the united states this is a dark day for journalists in. songs now faces extradition to the united states where the justice department has revealed he's wanted for allegedly conspiring to hack a government computer. live from moscow watching our team for national ondine hawkins review our thanks for joining us this hour. now in a dramatic turn of events after nearly seven years holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london wiki leaks founder julian assange as was arrested on thursday morning that was a blow is now in police custody and potentially facing extradition to the u.s. where he's wanted on charges of conspiring to hack a government computer video agency captured this my went to the shovelled

i have been seeing what's happened with assange. that will be a determination, i would imagine, mostly by the attorney general. >> dana: catherine herridge, you're earning all your pennies. we've had you in our a block every day. what do you have now? >> reporter: well, dana, good afternoon. the arrest of julian assange intersects with the imminent release of the robert mueller report, which is expected to analyze russia's election interference and likely explain to what extent assange and wiki leaks were an active player in the leaks. today there was a direct connection. >> he should be arrested and face indictment here. there are serious charges involving his role and russian meddling. he should face charges here. >> reporter: this seven page virginia indictment was filed under seal in march of 2018 and unsealed earlier today. notice the timing. it accuses assange of one of the largest compromises of classified information in u.s. history. it says the wiki leaks founder engaged in a conspiracy with chelsea manning to crack a defen

it is finally how often julian assange was arrested within the dorrian embassy in london is widely expected he will be extradited to the united states to stand trial expected charges for espionage this is truly a dark day for journalist and journals. a man allegedly linked to wiki leaks founder julian assange is arrested in ecuador just hours after police tried to whistleblower him out of the south american countries embassy in london where he's been holed up almost seven years. i'm. a staunch faces charges both in the u.k. and in the u.s. with politicians and human rights groups expressing concern for the dangerous precedent has been set by his arrest we spoke to wiki leaks editor in chief about the possible repercussions. this is a threat to journalism and journalists and the freedom of the media world. and a military coup sees sit downs president arrested and imagines the rule imposed all in the space of twenty four hours as we look at the roots of the northeast african countries conference. a warm welcome you want to wiki leaks founder julian assange knowledge was arrested on thursday i