Here is a brief summary of what indictment means in the federal context and why it is sealed.
Thanks for the clarification. That makes it sound more like a grand jury (which we no longer have) acting much as our CPS does, in checking that the police have enough strong evidence to justify a charge (which is equally confidential).
I know nothing about this so I’m just seeking clarification. The legislative branch is the elected body while the executive branch is not elected. Right? Or do they have a different system?
It’s a parliamentary system without even the British pretense that the king is the real chief executive. The head of the legislative power is one and the same as the head of the executive, who is head of the winning political party.
Got it, thanks!
Yes, the PM and Cabinet are all elected to the Commons, in their own constituencies. They hold office as head of the executive by virtue of having the confidence of the Commons, i.e. they can get their budget and major bills passed.
The current government under Prime Minister May is a minority government. However, they have reached a political “confidence and supply” agreement with one of the smaller parties in the Commons, the Democratic Unionist Party, which holds about a dozen seats in Northern Ireland, enough to give May a majority on most major confidence and supply matters.
Either way, I doubt very much if enough Tory MPs believe that enough of the voting public is invested enough in the fate of Assange to care two hoots what the Home Secretary might decide, or at least to let it sway their votes at the next election.
The plot thickens:
Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy
Oh, my!
March 2016 is when Fancy Bear compromised John Podesta’s email.
Of more critical timing is that these were subsequently released by WikiLeaks within hours of the release of the Access Hollywood tape about Trump’s 2005 salacious ‘grab them by the p***y’ commentary.
Two competing stories each with the potential to destroy a political campaign.
Textbook example of ambush political marketing.
BTW, recommend most highly the podcast Russia, If You’re Listeningby Matt Bevan of our ABC if the people and the connections of Trump and Russia interest you.
Wow, I hadn’t realized the timing was that close.
On checking, I’ve actually overstated the time-line.
On October 7, 2016 4:05 P.M. EST the Access Hollywood tape was dropped into circulation.
30 minutes later, WikiLeaks began publishing thousands of emails from Podesta’s Gmail account.
Well, every once in a while the Bee of Tzar comes to visit - though, more common in recent times - and this is one of those instances:
In summary: The President of Ecuador decided to call Paul Manafort, of all people, in May of 2017, to have him come visit the country to ask him to broker a deal with the US, to trade Assange for debt relief.
(Bee of Tzar -> Bee Tzar -> Bizarre)
Ecuador trying to push their house guest out?
Sounds like it. Ecuador has announced that the British government has given sufficient guarantees to protect Assange, including a guarantee that Britain would not extradite Assange to a country where he would face the death penalty.
“So Julian, it’s been lovely having you visit …”
Assange is believed to have said "I’m good, thanks. Kitty and I like it here. "
Is Assange even charged with anything that would carry the death penalty?
The indictment is sealed, so we don’t know. Here are the listed crimes that are eligible, per Wiki.
Espionage, maybe? It sounds like we’re going to have to promise not to kill him before we get him. I wonder if the Russians will try to kill him before we can get our hands on him.
I think it is completely implausible on its face that Assange would face the death penalty. Not only is it quite clear that what we know of his actions, if criminal at all, fall well short of punishments doled out in even more serious cases. (See Robert Hanssen, for example, though he took a plea deal.)
Further, I can’t see any way that any European country would extradite him without an agreement that the death penalty is off the table.
Do you mean him specifically? Maybe. But it’s already been mentioned in this thread that the UK has stopped making that an absolute requirement for extradition.
UK facing legal action over ‘unlawful’ decision not to protect Isis ‘Beatles’ from death penalty*
*though that’s from July. Don’t recall what legal action has happened in the interim.
It appears the camel’s back has been broken:
It also required Assange to pay his medical bills and clean up after his pet cat.
I just WikiLeaked my pants!