The US Department of Justice is preparing to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange according to the Wall Street Journal.
The charges that the DOJ is pursuing are unknown at this time, however the Wall Street Journal is speculating they may involve the Espionage Act.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
The Justice Department is preparing to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and is increasingly optimistic it will be able to get him into a U.S. courtroom, according to people in Washington familiar with the matter.
Over the past year, U.S. prosecutors have discussed several types of charges they could potentially bring against Mr. Assange, the people said. Mr. Assange has lived in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since receiving political asylum from the South American country in 2012.
The people familiar with the case wouldn’t describe whether discussions were under way with the U.K. or Ecuador about Mr. Assange, but said they were encouraged by recent developments.
One of Julian Assange’s lawyers, Barry Pollack said he hasn’t heard about the DOJ’s latest plans to prosecute his client.
“We have heard nothing from authorities suggesting that a criminal case against Mr. Assange is imminent. Prosecuting someone for publishing truthful information would set a terrible and dangerous precedent,” Barry Pollack said.
As TGP’s Cassandra Fairbanks previously reported, the Ecuadorian embassy cut off internet access for Julian Assange and no longer allowed him to have visitors in March.
A source close to Assange and the Embassy confirmed to The Gateway Pundit that this was due to Assange’s refusal to stop tweeting about Catalonian independence leader Carles Puigdemont’s arrest in Germany on a Spanish warrant.
Julian Assange’s internet access and access to visitors was partly restored by Ecuador in October.
Mr. Assange has lived at the Ecuadorian embassy in London since being granted political asylum in the summer of 2012.
