> In fact, why can't I hack companies and claim I was just trying to get information to leak to the public? "Hacking companies" is not the same as a journalist

> In fact, why can't I hack companies and claim I was just trying to get information to leak to the public? "Hacking companies" is not the same as a journalist at his own location using the material received from its source to guess the information from the material which could help the protection of the source. That is what the journalists are supposed to regularly do. And that is what is claimed that Assange did. And that was known for years, and previously legal experts concluded that it is not a correct basis to a charge. But then the US president becomes somebody who deeply doesn't care for the freedom of the press. And the Democrats still don't want to admit that they lost the election because they actually did many wrong things, like not being democratic in their own party before the elections. So the pressure started: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/pence-pressed-ecuadorian-president-on-countrys-protection-of-julian-assange https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/pence-pr... The fact which was somehow inconvenient: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/11/heres-interview-glenn-greenwald-about-julian-assange-it-seems-npr-didnt-want-you https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/11/heres-interview... The deleted part was exactly about that pressure. Note also that Greenwald wrote: "The claim that Assange tried to help Manning circumvent a password to cover her tracks isn’t new. The Obama DOJ knew about it since 2011, but chose not to prosecute him. Story on this soon. Holder chose not to prosecute Assange based on the same info Trump DOJ cited." and Assange's lawyer: "While the indictment against Julian Assange disclosed today charges a conspiracy to commit computer crimes, the factual allegations against Mr. Assange boil down to encouraging a source to provide him information and taking efforts to protect the identity of that source. Journalists around the world should be deeply troubled by these unprecedented criminal charges."