The existence of sealed indictments in the Trump Russia probe has been discussed for some time and one exists with respect to Julian Assange. Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia made a boo boo and mentioned Julian Assange’s name in an unrelated court filing discussing sealing and redacting, and a terrorism expert, Seamus Hughes, found it and posted it on Twitter. New York Times:
The Justice Department has prepared an indictment against the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, marking a drastic escalation of the government’s yearslong battle with him and his anti-secrecy group.
It was not clear if prosecutors have filed charges against Mr. Assange. The indictment came to light late Thursday through an unrelated court filing in which prosecutors inadvertently mentioned charges against him.
“The court filing was made in error,” said Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the United States attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia. “That was not the intended name for this filing.”
You guys should read EDVA court filings more, cheaper than a Journal subscription pic.twitter.com/YULeeQphmd
— Seamus Hughes (@SeamusHughes) November 16, 2018
The disclosure came in a filing in a case unrelated to Assange. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kellen S. Dwyer, urging a judge to keep the matter sealed, wrote that “due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged.” Later, Dwyer wrote the charges would “need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested.”
Dwyer is also assigned to the WikiLeaks case. People familiar with the matter said what Dwyer was disclosing was true, but unintentional. […]
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III also has explored WikiLeaks’ publication of emails from the Democratic National Committee and the account of Hillary Clinton’s then-campaign chairman, John D. Podesta. Officials have alleged that the emails were hacked by Russian spies and transferred to WikiLeaks.
Mueller also has been exploring, among other things, communications between the group and associates of President Trump, including political operative Roger Stone and commentator and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi.
It looks more and more like the 12 GRU agents indicted by Mueller in July used the WikiLeaks platform to distribute the information they stole from the DNC in order to disrupt the 2016 election. The walls appear to be closing in on Assange, Corsi and Stone — and who knows who else in Trump’s orbit might have already been indicted under seal? This would go a long way towards explaining Trump’s recent moodiness and his spate of panic tweets directed at Mueller Thursday.
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