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| Trump administration plans to kidnap WikiLeaks founders |
The Trump administration's CIA hatched a vicious plot to kidnap or kill WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange while he was under quarantine at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
When Julian Assange began his fifth year at the Ecuadorean embassy in London in 2017, the CIA plotted to kidnap him, sparking a heated debate among Trump administration officials about the legality and feasibility of such measures.
The CIA and some senior officials in the Trump administration discussed Assange's murder and even questioned how he was killed.
A former senior counterintelligence official said there were talks at the head of the Trump administration about the kidnapping or assassination of Assange.
These conversations are part of an unprecedented CIA campaign against WikiLeaks and its founder. The agency's multi-layered plans also include extensive espionage against other WikiLeaks, discord between members of the organization, and theft of their electronic devices.
Although Assange has been a target of US intelligence agencies for many years, these plans to start an all-out war against him were sparked by WikiLeaks' constant release of a highly sensitive CIA hacking tool (called Vault 7) which is the biggest data loss. In the story of the CIA.
The new CIA director, Mike Pompeo, appointed by President Trump, wants revenge on Assange, who has applied for asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden.
A former Trump national security official said Pompeo and other senior agency executives lost contact because they were ashamed of Vault 7.
The CIA's outrage led Pompeo to publicly designate the organization as hostile intelligence in 2017.
This designation allowed the agency's agents to take more aggressive actions and treat the organization like a hostile spy service.
Within a few months, American spies began monitoring the communications and activities of several WikiLeaks employees, including audio and video surveillance of Assange himself.
The US government's war on WikiLeaks
Assange is currently fighting in a London prison. A court rules a US extradition request for attempting to help former US military analyst Chelsea Manning break into a secret computer network and conspiracy to obtain classified documents in violation of the Espionage Act. ".
There is no evidence that any tougher measures against Assange have been approved. This is due, in part, to opposition from White House counsel.
But the agency's proposal made some government officials so concerned that they reached out to staff and members of Congress to remind them to respond to Pompeo's proposal.
Some National Security Council officials have expressed concern that the CIA's proposal to kidnap Assange is illegal. It could also jeopardize the lawsuit against the WikiLeaks founder.
So that the CIA plan does not jeopardize a potential criminal case. The Justice Department quickly drafted the charges against Assange to ensure their existence when he was brought to the United States.
The agency's plan was reversed at the end of 2017.
The highest levels of the US government believe that intelligence reports of potential hacker attacks are reliable.
Around this time, Ecuadorian officials began working hard to grant Assange diplomatic status. As part of the plan, let him leave the embassy and travel to Moscow to participate in the work of the Russian mission in Russia.
In response, the CIA and the White House began making plans to thwart Assange's plan to leave Russia.
These include possible shootings with Kremlin agents on the streets of London. A car collided with a Russian diplomatic vehicle carrying Assange and he was later arrested. A Russian plane with Assange pulled the tire before taking off for Moscow.
US officials urged their UK counterparts to shoot if necessary, and the UK agreed.