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April 11, 2019, 9:41 AM GMT/ UpdatedApril 12, 2019, 6:00 AM GMT

By Patrick Smith, Ken Dilanian and Alex Johnson

LONDON The Justice Department revealed Thursday that it has charged Julian Assange with computer hacking hours after the fugitive founder of WikiLeaks was arrested in London following a U.S. request to extradite him.

Assange, the publisher of state secrets that embarrassed governments around the world, was wanted in Britain for skipping bail in 2012, when he was under investigation in Sweden on charges of sexual assault and rape. He spent almost seven years living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to the U.S.

Assange is charged with one count of "conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified U.S. government computer," according to the indictment released Thursday by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.

Prosecutors say the password was being sought by Chelsea Manning, a former Army intelligence officer who provided Assange with a trove of secret government documents that WikiLeaks published in 2010 "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States," according to the indictment.

Assange, 47, has said that the United States is trying to infringe on his journalistic freedoms. The indictment accused him of going beyond the role of a traditional journalist when he helped Manning crack the password that gave her access to hundreds of thousands of classified files.

Appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday afternoon, Assange pleaded not guilty but was convicted of failing to surrender to police on June 29, 2012. He will be sentenced in Crown Court, where more serious crimes are heard.

Assange faces extradition hearings on May 2 and June 12.

Addressing the media outside the court after the hearing, Assange's London-based attorney, Jennifer Robinson, said his arrest "sets a dangerous precedent for all media organizations and journalists."

"Since 2010 weve warned that Julian Assange would face extradition to the U.S. for his publishing activities with WikiLeaks," Robinson said. "Unfortunately today weve been proven right."

She added that she had just spoken to Assange, whose message to the world was: "I told you so."

In an interview with NBC News, Robinson said she was concerned about her client's health, adding that "he was in the middle of treatment for [a] root canal when he was arrested."

A source directly familiar with the situation told NBC News that the U.S. is making plans to seek Assange's extradition.

Footage shot by the Ruptly news video agency showed a bedraggled and bearded Assange being hauled out of the Ecuadorian Embassy by seven men. As he was bundled into a waiting police van, Assange shouted: "You must resist. You can resist. ... The U.K. must resist."

Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno said in a video message that Assange had his diplomatic asylum withdrawn due to "repeatedly violating international conventions."

Moreno added that he asked the U.K. not to extradite Assange "to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty." In a subsequent statement, Ecuador's foreign minister said that the U.K. had given its assurance that it would comply with the request.

Alan Duncan, a British government minister, welcomed Assange's eviction and said it was the result of "extensive dialogue" between the U.K. and Ecuador.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry, criticized Assange's arrest. "The hand of 'democracy' squeezes the throat of freedom," she said in a Facebook post.

WikiLeaks said in a tweet that Assange's political asylum had been "illegally terminated in violation of international law."

The group has repeatedly claimed that the DOJ is building a criminal case centered on the leaking of Democratic emails hacked by the Russians in the 2016 election.

President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, told a congressional hearing in February that former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone was in contact with Assange before WikiLeaks released leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee.

Assange has always maintained that the source of the leaks was not Russia, contrary to the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies.

The White House referred questions about the Assange indictment to the DOJ. In an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump appeared to downplay his knowledge of Assange's organization, saying: "I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It's not my thing."

Trump hasnt always been circumspect when it comes to Assange and WikiLeaks. Less than a month before the 2016 election, he showered praise on the organization.

I love WikiLeaks, he said on Oct. 10.

Assange, who founded WikiLeaks in 2006, made international news in 2010 with the publication of the leaked information provided by Manning.

These included a video of a U.S. military helicopter fatally shooting people in Iraq, and thousands of classified military logs revealing sensitive information about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, thought to be the biggest leaks in U.S. military history.

Manning last month refused to testify before a federal grand jury looking into the release of documents to WikiLeaks.

In November 2010, the Swedish government issued an international arrest warrant for Assange in connection with allegations of sexual assault and rape from two women. Assange, who has denied the allegations, surrendered to British police the following month and was released on bail. He then fled, breaking the terms of his bond agreement.

Sweden dropped its investigation into Assange in 2017. But Sweden's chief prosecutor, Ingrid Isgren, said Thursday that the investigation into Assange could be reopened if he returned to the country before the statute of limitation expires in August 2020.

Elisabeth Massi Fritz, lawyer for one of Assange's accusers, said on Thursday that she would "do everything we possibly can" to get police to reopen the investigation "so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and prosecuted for rape." The prosecutor's office said it had received a request from the original plaintiff to re-open the rape case.

Assange, a native of Australia, became an Ecuadorian citizen last year, even though his relations with his hosts had soured years ago.

In 2016, the Ecuadorian government cut off his access to the internet in the embassy after WikiLeaks published a trove of emails from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. The government said it was trying to make sure he couldn't interfere in the affairs of other countries.

Patrick Smith, Michele Neubert and Laura Saravia reported from London, Ken Dilanian from Washington, and Alex Johnson from Los Angeles.

Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter from NBC News Digital.

Ken Dilanian is a national security reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Alex Johnson is a senior writer for NBC News covering general news, with an emphasis on explanatory journalism, data analysis, technology and religion. He is based in Los Angeles.

Laura Saravia and Michele Neubert contributed.

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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange arrested in London; U.S. seeks ...

LONDON (AP) British police on Thursday hauled a bearded and shouting Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy where he was holed up for nearly seven years, and the U.S. charged the WikiLeaks founder with conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to get their hands on government secrets.

Police arrested Assange after the South American nation revoked the political asylum that had protected him in the embassy, and he was brought before a British court the first step in an extradition battle that he has vowed to fight.

Ecuadors President Lenin Moreno said he decided to evict Assange from the embassy after repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols, and he later lashed out at him during a speech in Quito, calling the Australian native a spoiled brat who treated his hosts with disrespect.

In Washington, the U.S. Justice Department accused Assange of conspiring with Manning to break into a classified government computer at the Pentagon. The charge was announced after Assange was taken into custody.

Assange, 47, took refuge in the embassy in 2012 after he was released on bail in Britain while facing extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations that have since been dropped. He refused to leave the embassy, fearing arrest and extradition to the U.S. for publishing classified military and diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.

Manning, who served several years in prison for leaking troves of classified documents before her sentence was commuted by then-President Barack Obama, is again in custody in Alexandria, Virginia, for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. Mannings legal team said the indictment against Assange showed prosecutors didnt need her testimony and called for her to be released, saying her continued detention would be purely punitive.

Over the years, Assange used Ecuadors embassy as a platform to keep his name before the public, frequently making appearances on its tiny balcony, posing for pictures and reading statements. Even his cat became famous.

But his presence was an embarrassment to U.K. authorities, who for years kept a police presence around the clock outside the embassy, costing taxpayers millions in police overtime. Such surveillance was removed in 2015, but the embassy remained a focal point for his activities.

Video posted online by Ruptly, a news service of Russia Today, showed several men in suits pulling a handcuffed Assange out of the embassy and loading him into a police van while uniformed British police formed a passageway. Assange, who shouted and gestured as he was removed, sported a full beard and slicked-back gray hair.

He later appeared in Westminster Magistrates Court, where District Judge Michael Snow wasted no time in finding him guilty of breaching his bail conditions, flatly rejecting his assertion that he had not had a fair hearing and a reasonable excuse for not appearing.

Mr. Assanges behavior is that of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interests, Snow said. He hasnt come close to establishing reasonable excuse.

Assange waved to the packed public gallery as he was taken to the cells. His next appearance was set for May 2 via prison video-link in relation to the extradition case.

Assanges attorney, Jennifer Robinson, said he will fight any extradition to the U.S.

This sets a dangerous precedent for all journalist and media organizations in Europe and around the world, she said. This precedent means that any journalist can be extradited for prosecution in the United States for having published truthful information about the United States.

Asked at the White House about the arrest, President Donald Trump declared , Its not my thing, and I know nothing about WikiLeaks, despite praising the anti-secrecy organization dozens of times during his 2016 campaign.

Assange has been under U.S. Justice Department scrutiny for years for WikiLeaks role in publishing government secrets. He was an important figure in special counsel Robert Muellers Russia probe as investigators examined how WikiLeaks obtained emails that were stolen from Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and Democratic groups.

The bottom line is that he has to answer for what he has done, Clinton said later Thursday, at a speaking event with husband Bill Clinton.

WikiLeaks quickly drew attention to U.S. interest in Assange and said that Ecuador had illegally terminated Assanges political asylum in violation of international law.

Powerful actors, including CIA, are engaged in a sophisticated effort to de-humanise, de-legitimize and imprison him, the group said in a tweet over a photo of Assanges smiling face.

But in Assanges native Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Australian Broadcasting Corp. he had no plans to intervene in the case as the charge was a matter for the United States and had nothing to do with Australia. Consular officials were to visit him Friday in jail.

Ecuadorian officials suggested Assanges own behavior was to blame.

Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo said Assanges mental and physical health worsened while he was holed up, and he began to act aggressively toward his hosts, including smearing feces on the walls of the embassy.

In a fiery speech in Ecuador, Moreno called him an ungrateful and miserable hacker who treated embassy officials poorly.

When youre given shelter, cared for and provided food, you dont denounce the owner of the house, Moreno said to applause at an event outside Quito.

From now on well be more careful in giving asylum to people who are really worth it and not miserable hackers whose only goal is to destabilize governments, he added. We are tolerant, calm people, but were not stupid.

Other Ecuadorian officials in Quito accused supporters of WikiLeaks and two Russian hackers of trying to destabilize the country as the standoff with Assange intensified recently.

Romo said a close collaborator of WikiLeaks had traveled with former Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino this year to several countries including Peru, Spain and Venezuela to try to undermine the Ecuadorian government. She also said a person close to Assange had been detained at Quitos airport trying to fly to Japan. The person, who she did not identify, is accused of conspiring against the Ecuadorian government.

Later Thursday, a senior Ecuadorian official said a Swedish software developer living in Quito had been arrested at the airport as authorities attempt to dismantle a blackmail ring that in recent days had threatened to retaliate against Moreno.

The official identified the person as Ola Bini. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity and didnt provide any additional details about Bini.

On a blog, a Swedish man of the same name describes himself as a software developer working in Quito for the Center for Digital Autonomy, a group based in Ecuador and Spain focused on privacy, security and cryptography issues. It makes no mention of any affiliation with Wikileaks.

On Twitter earlier Thursday, Bini called claims by the Interior Minister that Russian hackers and someone close to Wikileaks were working inside Ecuador very worrisome news and said events looked like a witch hunt.

But former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa called Morenos decision cowardly, accusing him of retaliating against Assange for WikiLeaks spreading allegations about an offshore bank account purportedly linked to Morenos family and friends.

On Wednesday, WikiLeaks accused Ecuadors government of an extensive spying operation against him. It alleges that meetings with lawyers and a doctor in the embassy over the past year were secretly filmed.

Speaking in the U.K. Parliament after the arrest, British Prime Minister Theresa May said it showed that no one is above the law.

Moreno appeared to suggest a swift extradition to the U.S. was unlikely.

In line with our strong commitment to human rights and international law, I requested Great Britain to guarantee that Mr. Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty, Moreno said. The British government has confirmed it in writing, in accordance with its own rules.

Edward Snowden, the former security contractor who leaked classified information about U.S. surveillance programs, called Assanges arrest a blow to media freedom.

Images of Ecuadors ambassador inviting the U.K.s secret police into the embassy to drag a publisher of like it or not award-winning journalism out of the building are going to end up in the history books, Snowden tweeted from Russia, which has granted him permission to stay there while he is wanted by the U.S. Assanges critics may cheer, but this is a dark moment for press freedom.

___

Associated Press writers Kelvin Chan and Gregory Katz in London; Joshua Goodman in Caracas, Venezuela; Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador; and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow APs coverage of the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at https://www.apnews.com/WikiLeaks

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WikiLeaks' Assange hauled from embassy, faces US charge

Julian Assange facing possible U.S. extradition

London's Metropolitan Police arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in the British capital on Thursday. The arrest came after Ecuador dropped Assange's asylum status, effectively evicting him from their embassy.

Assange hadn't left the embassy since August 2012, fearing that if he stepped off Ecuador's diplomatic soil he would be arrested and extradited to the U.S. for publishing thousands of classified military and diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.

The police said Assange was detained "on a warrant issued by Westminster Magistrates' Court on 29 June 2012, for failing to surrender to the court." They later confirmed he was also placed under arrest "on behalf" of U.S. law enforcement authorities, who had filed a formal extradition request. The Department of Justice unveiled its long-secret indictment against Assange later Thursday, which shows he's facing at least one computer hacking charge.

Video captured by Russian news agency Ruptly showed police removing Assange, 47, from the embassy on Thursday in handcuffs. His hair appeared to have grown significantly longer and whiter since his last appearance, and he had a long grey beard.

The police said they were "invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum." Ecuador's government said it had dropped it's protection of Assange, "for repeatedly violating international conventions and protocol of coexistence."

Assange was granted asylum by Ecuador in 2012 as he faced allegations of sex crimes in Sweden that he said were a guise to extradite him to the U.S. That case has been dropped, but he was still subject to arrest for dodging the warrant in the first place.

A British court found Assange guilty on Thursday afternoon of breaching the conditions of his bail, a relatively minor infraction that could bring up to a year-long prison sentence.

Judge Michael Snow quickly issued his verdict after Assange appeared in the courtroom where his supporters packed the public gallery. Assange faces a sentence of up to 12 months for the conviction, in addition to the more has serious charges pending in the United States.

The basis of Assange's defense was that he couldn't expect a fair trial in British courts as the U.K.'s purpose was to "secure his delivery" to the United States.

Britain's Press Association quoted a U.S. government representative who was in the court on Thursday, James Hines, as saying that police had testified that Assange, "barged past them, attempting to return to his private room" when they showed up to serve their arrest warrant at the embassy.

"He was eventually arrested at 10:15 a.m. He resisted that arrest, claiming 'this is unlawful' and he had to be restrained," the court was told, according to Hines. He said Assange had resisted throughout the arrest, shouting "this is unlawful, I'm not leaving."

The Justice Department's unsealed indictment shows that Assange has been charged with computer hacking crimes for trying to illegally access "secret" materials on a U.S. government computer. The charge is officially listed as "conspiracy to commit computer intrusion."

The indictment accuses Assange of trying to access the secret material "with reason to believe that such information so obtained could be used to the injury of the United States and the advantage of any foreign nation."

The charges relate to materials stolen by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who was convicted in 2013 of leaking classified government and military documents to WikiLeaks. She had worked as an intelligence analyst in Iraq and was arrested in 2010. Manning is transgender and at the time of her arrest, her name was Bradley.

Manning was jailed again last month for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton ordered Manning to jail for contempt of court in March after a brief hearing in which Manning confirmed she had no intention of testifying.

She served seven years of a 35-year military sentence for leaking the trove of documents to the anti-secrecy website before then-President Obama commuted her sentence in 2017 -- one of his final acts as president. In May that year, she was released from a Kansas military prison.

The indictment against Assange alleges that the "primary purpose of the conspiracy was to facilitate Manning's acquisition of classified information related to the national defense of the United States so that WikiLeaks could publicly disseminate the information on its website."

Assange faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, the U.S. Justice Department said.

At an event outside Ecuador's capital of Quito, President Lenin Moreno called Assange a "miserable hacker" and "spoiled brat" who was disrespectful to officials charged with taking care of him at the embassy. Moreno repeated allegations that Assange smeared his own fecal matter on the walls of the embassy building and said that was a sign of how he viewed Ecuador as an insignificant, third-rate country.

"When you're given shelter, cared for and provided food you don't denounce the owner of the house," said Moreno to applause. He added that Ecuador will "be more careful in giving asylum to people who are really worth it and not miserable hackers whose only goal is to destabilize governments."

In his words, "We are tolerant, calm people but we're not stupid." Moreno's government said tensions with Assange mounted in recent weeks.

Foreign Minister Jos Valencia told lawmakers what began as erratic behavior by Assange -- roller skating and playing soccer in embassy hallways and listening to loud music at all hours -- evolved in recent months into aggressive behavior toward embassy staff. Valencia said that Assange on occasions hit staff charged with guaranteeing his wellbeing and accused embassy officials of being U.S. spies looking to exchange information on WikiLeaks in exchange for debt relief for Ecuador.

CBS News sought comment from U.S. law enforcement agencies following Assange's arrest, but the FBI and National Security Agency had little to say. At the White House, President Trump said he knew nothing about WikiLeaks.

"It's not my thing," the president said. "I know there is something having to do with Julian Assange. I've been seeing what's happened with Assange and 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 deal in life."

A statement by London's Metropolitan Police confirming that Assange had been "arrested in relation to an extradition warrant on behalf of the United States authorities" was the first official confirmation from either side of the Atlantic of an official extradition request.

A court document published in "error" last year, in an unrelated case in Virginia, suggested strongly that prosecutors had prepared charges against him under seal -- something sources would not deny to CBS News.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement that Assange was "no hero."

"He has hidden from the truth for years and years and it is right that his future should be decided in the British judicial system," Hunt said. "This will now be decided properly, independently by the British legal system respected throughout the world for its independence and integrity and that is the right outcome."

"We're not making any judgement about Julian Assange's innocence or guilt," Hunt added, "that is for the courts to decide. But what is not acceptable is for someone to escape facing justice and he has tried to do that for a very long time."

The lawyer for the woman who claims Assange raped her in Sweden in 2010 said in a tweet on Thursday that she and her team would "do everything we possibly can to get the Swedish police investigation re-opened so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and prosecuted for rape. No rape victim should have to wait 9 years to see justice be served."

The case against Assange in Sweden was dropped by prosecutors in May 2017 -- not because of any conclusion about his guilt or innocence, but because they accepted there wasn't any reasonable chance of prosecuting him as he remained holed-up in London.

Lawyer Elisabeth Massi Fritz said it had, "understandably come as a shock to my client that what we have been waiting and hoping for since 2012 has now finally happened."

The woman has claimed Assange had sex with her without a condom while she was asleep. In Sweden, having sex with an unconscious, drunk or sleeping person can lead to a rape conviction punishable by up to six years in prison.

A Swedish investigation into the crimes was launched, then dropped for lack of evidence, and then started again as prosecutors sought to question Assange, before it was officially shelved by the Swedish prosecution service in May 2017.

Last year, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared the arrest of Assange, for leaking confidential U.S. diplomatic cables, remained a priority for the Justice Department.

Special counsel Robert Mueller had also been investigating whether Trump campaign associates had advance knowledge of Democratic emails that were published by WikiLeaks in the weeks before the 2016 election and that U.S. authorities have said were hacked by Russia.

Assange's arrest, if he is brought to the U.S. to face charges, could represent a significant development for ongoing congressional investigations into the Trump campaign's actions.

WikiLeaks said it was never contacted from anyone who worked on the Mueller probe, which recently concluded and handed its report to the Justice Department. Democrats are still pushing to get the full report released by Attorney General William Barr.

WikiLeaks, the website that says its function is to "open governments," and entities linked to the Kremlin have a relationship that goes back further than the 2016 election.

Reports in 2017 said Donald Trump Jr. occasionally corresponded with WikiLeaks on Twitter, starting in September 2016. While it doesn't appear the president's son sent any messages after October 2016, WikiLeaks sent him messages through July 2017.

Those messages -- which Trump Jr. disclosed in November 2017 -- were turned over to congressional investigators as they investigated Russian election meddling.

According to the the widely circulated January 2017 U.S. intelligence report detailing interference in the 2016 election, U.S. intelligence officials believe with "high confidence" that there was a connection between Russian military intelligence and the entities Guccifer 2.0, DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks that resulted in the deluge of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's associates hitting the Internet in the weeks ahead of the election.

Former "Baywatch" star Pamela Anderson lashed out after Assange's arrest. Anderson visited Assange multiple times while he was holed up in the embassy.

"I am in shock," she tweeted Thursday. "... He looks very bad."

"How could you Equador ?" she said, seemingly referring to Ecuador. "(Because he exposed you). How could you UK. ?"

She added: "Of course - you are America's b---- and you need a diversion from your idiotic Brexit bulls---."

She also tweeted a link to a WikiLeaks donation page.

While Assange's leaking of classified U.S. diplomatic and security information has infuriated the U.S. government, his arrest has drawn loud cries from press freedom advocates who argue he provided the materials to journalists in the public's interest.

Edward Snowden, the U.S. intelligence contractor who leaked thousands of secret documents from the National Security Agency revealing the extent of the U.S. government's covert data gathering around the world, sent a tweet on Thursday noting that the United Nations has repeatedly called on the U.K. government to let Assange walk free, deeming his hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy an "arbitrary detention."

Snowden said Assange's arrest marked " a dark moment for press freedom."

The Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders, Christophe Deloir, said Thursday that, "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 US may wish to pursue in future."

Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said Thursday in a statement released by the organization that "any prosecution by the United States of Mr. Assange for Wikileaks' publishing operations would be unprecedented and unconstitutional, and would open the door to criminal investigations of other news organizations."

The ACLU warned also that "prosecuting a foreign publisher for violating U.S. secrecy laws would set an especially dangerous precedent for U.S. journalists, who routinely violate foreign secrecy laws to deliver information vital to the public's interest."

When questions were swirling about the former Australian hacker's legal fate in the U.S., Moreno, the Ecuadorian leader, said that Britain provided sufficient guarantees the WikiLeaks founder wouldn't be extradited to face the death penalty abroad.

A U.S. official told CBS News Washington correspondent Paula Reid recently that even with an official request filed with Britain, extradition is a lengthy process and the WikiLeaks boss wouldn't likely hit U.S. soil too quickly.

That said, Britain and the U.S. do have a fast-track extradition agreement, so the process should be easier than it would be with many other nations.

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Julian Assange arrested: WikiLeaks founder faces possible ...

Jonathan Turley, Opinion columnist Published 10:56 a.m. ET April 11, 2019 | Updated 3:39 p.m. ET April 11, 2019

After seven years of self-imposed exile, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested inside the embassy of Ecuador in London. USA TODAY

He isour property. Those celebratory words of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.,came on CNN soon after the news of the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

It was a sentiment shared by virtually everyone in Washington from Congress to the intelligence services. Assange committed the unpardonable sins of embarrassing the establishment from members of Congress to intelligence officials to the news media. And he will now be punished for our sins. Despite having significant constitutional arguments to be made, it is likely that he will be stripped of those defenses and even barred from raisingthe overall context of his actions in federal court. What could be the most important free speech and free press case in our history could well be reduced to the scope and substance of an unauthorized computer access case.

For years, the public has debated what Assange is: journalist,whistleblower,foreign agent,dupe.The problem is that Assange is first and foremost a publisher.

Moreover, he was doing something that is usually heralded in the news media. WikiLeaksdisclosed a massive and arguably unconstitutional surveillance program by the United States impacting virtually every citizen. Itlater published emails that showed that the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of Hillary Clinton lied in various statements to the public, including the rigging of the primary for her nomination. No one has argued that any of these emails were false. They were embarrassing. Ofcourse, there is not crime of embarrassing the establishment, but that is merely a technicality.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London on April 11, 2019.(Photo: Stringer/epa-EFE)

Read more commentary:

Julian Assange deserves a Medal of Freedom, not a secret indictment

What WikiLeaks reveals: Our view

Chelsea Manning commutation reeks of hypocrisy: James Robbins

The criminal chargeagainst Assange filed in a federal court was crafted to circumvent the obvious constitutional problems in prosecuting him. The charge is revealing. He is charged with a single count for his alleged involvement in the hacking operation of Chelsea Manning in 2010.

By alleging that Assange actively played a role in the hacking operation, the government is seeking to portray him as part of the theft rather than the distribution of the information. The prosecutors sayAssange helped Manning secure a password to gain access to additional information. If true, that would be a step that most newsorganizations would not take.

It'slikely there will be a superseding indictment once Assange is successfully extradited to the United States. Moreover, the Justice Department is likely to move aggressively to strip Assange of his core defenses. Through what is called a motion in limine, the government will ask the court to declare that the disclosure of the arguably unconstitutionalsurveillance program is immaterial.

Thiswould leave Assange with only the ability to challengewhether he helped with passwords andlittle or no opportunity to presentevidence of his motivations or the threat to privacy. For the jurors, they could simply be faced with some Australian guy who helped with passwords in hacking national security information. It would be like trying a man for breaking and entering while barring evidence that the house was on fire and he thought he was rescuing people instead.

The key to prosecutingAssange has always been to punish him without again embarrassing the powerful figures made mockeries by his disclosures. That means to keep him from discussing how the U.S. government launched an unprecedented surveillance program that scooped up the emails and communications of citizens without a warrant or probable cause. He cannot discuss how Democratic and Republican members either werecomplicit or incompetent in their oversight. He cannot discuss how the public was lied to about the program.

A glimpse of that artificial scope was seen within minutes of the arrest. CNN brought on its national security analyst, James Clapper, former director of national intelligence. CNN never mentioned that Clapper was accused of perjury in denying the existence of theNational Security Agency surveillance program and was personally implicated in the scandal that WikiLeaks triggered.

Clapperwas asked directly before Congress, Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?

Clapper responded, No, sir. Not wittingly. Later, Clapper said his testimony was the least untruthful statement he could make.

Thatwould still make it a lie, of course, but this is Washington and people like Clapper are untouchable. In the view of the establishment, Assange is the problem.

Soon CNN, Clapper was allowed to explain (without any hint of self-awareness or contradiction) that Assange has caused us all kinds of grief in the intelligence community. Indeed, few people seriously believe that the government is aggrieved about password protection. The grief was the disclosure of an abusive surveillance program and a long record of lies to the American people. Assange will be convicted of the felony of causing embarrassment in the first degree.

Notably, no one went to jail or was fired for the surveillance programs. Those in charge of failed congressional oversight were reelected. Clapper was never charged with perjury. Even figures shown to have lied in the Clinton emails,like former CNN commentator Donna Brazile (who lied about giving Clintons campaign questions in advance of the presidential debates), are now back on television. Assange, however, could well do time.

With Assanges extradition, all will be well again in Washington. As Sen.Manchin declared, Assangeis their property and will be punished for his sins. Once he is hoisted as a wretch, few will again entertain such hubris in the future.

Jonathan Turley, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors,is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. Follow him on Twitter:@JonathanTurley

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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange will be punished by Washington ...

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Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

At Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday he was found guilty of failing to surrender to the court.

He now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets.

The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange, in response to allegations by the Department for Justice that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.

He faces up to five years in US prison if convicted on the charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson said they would be fighting the extradition request. She said it set a "dangerous precedent" where any journalist could face US charges for "publishing truthful information about the United States".

She said she had visited Assange in the police cells where he thanked supporters and said: "I told you so."

Assange had predicted that he would face extradition to the US if he left the embassy.

After his arrest, the 47-year-old Australian national was initially taken to a central London police station before appearing in court.

Dressed in a black suit and black polo shirt, he waved to the public gallery and gave a thumbs up. He pleaded not guilty to the 2012 charge of failing to surrender to the court.

Finding him guilty of that charge, District Judge Michael Snow said Assange's behaviour was "the behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest".

He sent him to Southwark Crown Court for sentencing, where he faces up to 12 months in prison.

The court also heard that during his arrest at the embassy he had to be restrained and shouted: "This is unlawful, I am not leaving."

Assange set up Wikileaks in 2006 with the aim of obtaining and publishing confidential documents and images.

The organisation hit the headlines four years later when it released footage of US soldiers killing civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.

Former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was arrested in 2010 for disclosing more than 700,000 confidential documents, videos and diplomatic cables to the anti-secrecy website.

She said she only did so to spark debates about foreign policy, but US officials said the leak put lives at risk.

She was found guilty by a court martial in 2013 of charges including espionage. However, her jail sentence was later commuted.

Manning was recently jailed for refusing to testify before an investigation into Wikileaks' role in revealing the secret files.

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The indictment against Assange, issued last year in the state of Virginia, alleges that he conspired in 2010 with Manning to access classified information on Department of Defense computers. He faces up to five years in jail.

Manning downloaded four databases from US departments and agencies between January and May 2010, the indictment says. This information, much of which was classified, was provided to Wikileaks.

The US Justice Department described it as "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States".

Cracking a password stored on the computers, the indictment alleges, would have allowed Manning to log on to them in such a way as to make it harder for investigators to determine the source of the disclosures. It is unclear whether the password was actually broken.

Correspondents say the narrowness of the charge seems intended to avoid falling foul of the US Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press.

The Wikileaks co-founder had been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, after seeking asylum there to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation.

The investigation into the alleged rape, which he denied, was later dropped because he had evaded the arrest warrant. The Swedish Prosecution Authority has said it is now considering whether to resume the inquiry before the statute of limitations runs out in August 2020.

Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy on Thursday by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum.

Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno said the country had "reached its limit on the behaviour of Mr Assange".

Mr Moreno said: "The most recent incident occurred in January 2019, when Wikileaks leaked Vatican documents.

"This and other publications have confirmed the world's suspicion that Mr Assange is still linked to WikiLeaks and therefore involved in interfering in internal affairs of other states."

His accusations against Assange also included blocking security cameras at the embassy, accessing security files and confronting guards.

Mr Moreno said the British government had confirmed in writing that Assange "would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty".

The arrest comes a day after Wikileaks said it had uncovered an extensive spying operation against its co-founder at the Ecuadorian embassy.

There has been a long-running dispute between the Ecuadorian authorities and Assange about what he was and was not allowed to do in the embassy.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale said that over the years they had removed his access to the internet and accused him of engaging in political activities - which is not allowed when claiming asylum.

He said: "Precisely what has happened in the embassy is not clear - there has been claim and counter claim."

Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons: "This goes to show that in the UK, no one is above the law."

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the arrest was the result of "years of careful diplomacy" and that it was "not acceptable" for someone to "escape facing justice".

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that Assange had revealed "evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan" and his extradition "should be opposed by the British government".

Press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders said that the UK should resist extradition, because it would "set a dangerous precedent for journalists, whistleblowers, and other journalistic sources that the US may wish to pursue in the future".

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne said he would continue to receive "the usual consular support" and that consular officers will try to visit him.

And actress Pamela Anderson, who has visited the embassy to support Assange, said the arrest was a "vile injustice".

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Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder arrested in London ...