White House aide believes Trump had no advance knowledge of Assange arrest

By Humeyra Pamuk

 

FILE PHOTO: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the Westminster Magistrates Court, after he was arrested in London, Britain April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House adviser Kellyanne Conway On Sunday said she did not believe President Donald Trump had advance knowledge that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was going to be arrested by the British police and charged by U.S. prosecutors.

 

"Not to my knowledge," Conway told NBC's "Meet the Press" show, when asked if Trump knew ahead of time about Assange, who last Thursday was hauled out of the Ecuador's embassy in London where he had taken refuge since 2012 to avoid extradition.

 

U.S. prosecutors subsequently announced charges on Thursday and accused Assange of conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to gain access to a government computer as part of one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history.

 

The Justice Department said Assange was arrested under an extradition treaty between the United States and Britain.

 

Lawyers for Assange said he may risk torture and his life would be in danger if he were to be extradited to the United States. They have also suggested the charges could chill press freedom.

 

Conway said she believed Trump did not have any knowledge of what was going to happen to Assange but added that based on her numerous conversations with him on the issue, he is against releasing such classified information.

 

"The President believes that those who publish classified information should not do that," she said. "...So anybody who's publishing classified information, in our view, should think thrice before they do that because you can imperil folks."

 

Trump in 2016 said "I love WikiLeaks" after the website released emails that U.S. authorities have said were hacked by Russia to harm his election opponent Hillary Clinton. On Friday, he told reporters he had no opinion on the charges against Assange. "I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It's not my thing," Trump said.

 

Assange's U.S. indictment arose from a long-running criminal investigation dating back to the administration of President Barack Obama.

 

It was triggered in part by WikiLeaks' publication in 2010 of U.S. military reports about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the diplomatic communications - disclosures that embarrassed the United States and strained relations with allies.

 

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-04-15

She of the ‘They’re spying on you from your microwave oven’.

Maybe the story was not mentioned on Fox & Friends during the president's "executive time."

Recorded history shows its difficult to believe anything from the white house these days.

Who cares what she says if her lips are moving it’s probably all alternative facts 

Assange, talk about a No good deed never goes unpunished, and biting the hand that feed you, Ecuador, next time, don't be in a hurry to offer asylum to every dick Tom and harry that seems to suit your agenda but later becomes a burden and is no longer fit those agendas...

33 minutes ago, ThaiFelix said:

Recorded history shows its difficult to believe anything from the white house these days.

Although I totally agree with you, I doubt there was any reason to inform the President of exact details in advance, I am sure the American intelligence services was well up to speed an knew the events of Thursday were imminent through direct contact with sources in Ecuador and London and intelligence intercepts.   

1 minute ago, Basil B said:

Although I totally agree with you, I doubt there was any reason to inform the President of exact details in advance, I am sure the American intelligence services was well up to speed an knew the events of Thursday were imminent through direct contact with sources in Ecuador and London and intelligence intercepts.   

I suppose the only reason to inform Trump is to allow him to get his story straight about whether he still loves Assange for helping him get elected. We got the answer recently, when Trump played dumb about Assange. Typical.

3 minutes ago, keemapoot said:

I suppose the only reason to inform Trump is to allow him to get his story straight about whether he still loves Assange for helping him get elected. We got the answer recently, when Trump played dumb about Assange. Typical.

I also assume the Intelligence services now have implemented a policy of withholding as much information from Mr Blabbermouth as possible in the interest of National Security and Diplomatic Relations.  

14 minutes ago, Basil B said:

I also assume the Intelligence services now have implemented a policy of withholding as much information from Mr Blabbermouth as possible in the interest of National Security and Diplomatic Relations.  

Certainly US allies (of which none are closer than the UK) will think twice before handing over any intelligence information if they believe it will wind up in Trump’s hands.

Trump has no advance knowledge, no previous knowledge, no knowledge at all. Lucky for him his followers don't value knowledge

Well McD's did have buy one get one free at the time....????

5 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Certainly US allies (of which none are closer than the UK) will think twice before handing over any intelligence information if they believe it will wind up in Trump’s hands.

They won't need to "hand over" intelligence to the Brits, Germans French etc, since there are thousands more Assanges in the world who can hack happily away and sell their "intel" to global news outlets for a pretty penny.  

 

(Incidentally, it would be astounding to learn that the Americans were not busy hacking into Chinese agencies, that Chinese were not doing the same to the Yanks, the Brits to the .....and so on.   If all these govt entities were NOT hacking into the secrets of enemies and allies alike, we would - given the age we now live in - be demanding why they are NOT thus hacking.)

I seem to recall discussions on this thread, months ago, wherein the US intent to extradite Assange was demonstrated via released documents.... obviously Donald doesn’t read thaivisa.  

Why the hell should the British Police inform the White House, sod all to do with them . 

1 hour ago, farcanell said:

I seem to recall discussions on this thread, months ago, wherein the US intent to extradite Assange was demonstrated via released documents.... obviously Donald doesn’t read thaivisa.  

https://defend.wikileaks.org/threats-to-wikileaks/

 

i note my post confused at least one person, although I fail to see the point of a confused icon, when a simple question would perhaps un confuse

 

so... months ago we where discussing Assange and US intent to extradite.... here is a link to the effect that this info was out there in the public domain.... trump would have to be a complete vegetable brain wise, if he or the white house was unaware... If the public are more informed than the worlds most powerful man, then that’s a really sad indictment

 

 

 

 

A  White House  aide "believes" Trump.  ????

 

 

????