A grand jury subpoena has been sent to Chelsea Manning, the former leaker who was imprisoned for leaking hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables, military reports, videos and other materials to WikiLeaks, bringing the organization into the mainstream spotlight. Since then, WikiLeaks and it's founder Julian Assange have been targets of U.S. authoritarianism.
Chelsea Manning does not want to attend the "command" to appear before the district court grand jury n February 5, 2019. It literally says "YOU ARE COMMANDED":
Lawyers for Manning are asking a federal court to block the grand jury subpoena, in a motion filed Friday morning in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virgina. This is the hotbed of antiWikiLeaks and anti-Assange efforts have been stirring since 2010 when WikiLeaks became infamous for their leaks, courtesy of Manning.
Manning had this to say about the grand jury witch-hunt:
"The grand jury process, mired in secrecy, is troubling. The proceedings take place behind closed doors, without a judge or defense attorney, which makes them susceptible to abuse. I have nothing to contribute to this case, and I will not endanger myself or the activist communities I've organized with since leaving prison. I stand in solidarity with all grand jury resisters, who have refused to participate in this predatory and deceitful practice."
It's a witch-hunt, with no oversight of real legal proceedings, if that even mattered when so many in the deep state want to make WikiLeaks and Assange pay for humiliating them.
Manning's motion was put under seal, just as the grand jury case against Assange was, as well as the charges against Assange which surfaced and propelled him to go into hiding by seeking asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012. The charges have been known since at least 2011, when a leak of Stratfor communications made their way to WikiLeaks, and were subsequently published.
In those emails from 2011, Stratfor's Vice-President for Counterterrorism and Corporate Security, Fred Burton, said that a secret Grand Jury had already issued a sealed indictment of Assange, adding that:
"Assange is going to make a nice bride in prison. Screw the terrorist. He'll be eating cat food forever. ... extradition to the US is more and more likely."
Everything about Assange being charged and being sought for a criminal trial by a grand jury, has been true. Assange knew it, and he's been rightfully trying to avoid being kidnapped by the U.K. "authorities" in order to be sent to U.S. "authorities" for a mock-show witch-hunting trial to make an example.
In the subpoena to Manning, there is a case number "10GJ3793", which has been known since 2011 to be related to WikiLeaks activities. The @WikiLeaks Twitter account has mentioned this case in a recent tweet:
WikiLeaks subpoena: If you look top right-hand corner of the new DoJ subpoena you'll see "10GJ3793". That's the WikiLeaks "conspiracy to commit espionage" [3-§793] grand jury started in 2010 targeting "the founders, owners or managers of WikiLeaks" https://wikileaks.org/Background-for-UN-Talk-Ongoing.html
Some think the subpoena for Manning to appear at the grand jury is also a retaliation for getting off with "only" 6 years of prison time, down for the 35 year military judge sentence, after being pardoned by Obama in 2017. A Manning spokesperson said:
"The subpoena is likely a retaliatory move stemming from the very public executive resentment at Chelsea’s release."
They - the U.S. authoritarians and deep state - are likely looking for any way to hang something on Manning or Assange and make them pay for the "crimes" of exposing the dark deeds of the U.S. governmental apparatus.
Assange's lawyer, Barry Pollack, express disappointment with the continued witch-hunt on Assange:
"It’s disappointing but not surprising that the government is continuing to pursue criminal charges against Julian Assange, apparently for his role in publishing truthful information about matters of great public interest."
He nails it perfectly. Criminal charges for exposing the truth about wrongful and corrupt behavior within the government. That's what this is about, pure and simple. The government doesn't like having their bullshit exposed. "How dare Assange or anyone humiliate us that way! We'll show him by putting him in jail for the rest of his life!"
The fury against Assange has amplified in 2017, with the hit-piece crackpot story by The Guardian saying Assange met with Manafort in their attempt to fabricate a "Russiagate" link to Trump. Then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo clearly showed his animosity and prejudice towards WikiLeaks in 2017, saying:
"It is time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is — a nonstate hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia."
Russiagate has now been shown to be a fraud, but that isn't stopping the deep state actors from going after WikiLeaks and Assange. It seems the witch-hunt is coming to a head with the grand jury subpoenas this year.
References:
- Chelsea Manning fights grand jury subpoena seen as linked to Assange
- Disclosing Subpoena for Testimony, Chelsea Manning Vows to Fight
- Chelsea Manning subpoenaed to testify before grand jury in Assange investigation
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