Source: AP Photo/Frank Augstein, FILE
CLICK HERE TO SEE A POWERFUL VIDEO: WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange arrested in London
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested by UK
police at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
The arrest comes after the Ecuadorian government withdrew
his asylum. He had been in the building for almost seven years to avoid being
extradited to Sweden.
London's Metropolitan Police vowed earlier this month to
arrest Assange if he were freed. Assange, who has lived in the embassy for more
than six years, faces possible extradition to the U.S. for publishing thousands
of classified military and diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.
Assange, 47, has been in the embassy since 2012 when
British courts ordered him extradited to Sweden to face questioning in a sexual
assault case. That matter has since been dropped, but Wikileaks is facing a
federal grand jury investigation over its publication of American diplomatic
and military secrets during the Iraq War.
Assange, an Australian native, was arrested on a
Westminster Magistrates’ Court warrant which was issued on June 29, 2012, for
failing to surrender to court, Metropolitan Police said in a statement:
"It is absolutely right that Assange will face
justice in the proper way in the UK,” Europe minister Sir Alan Duncan said
after the arrest. "It is for the courts to decide what happens next."
Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno said on Twitter the
action was taken after Assange’s “repeated violations to international
conventions and daily-life protocols.”
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt thanked Ecuador for
their "cooperation."
"Julian Assange is no hero and no one is above the
law. He has hidden from the truth for years," Hunt tweeted. "Thank
you Ecuador and President @Lenin Moreno for your cooperation with
@foreignoffice to ensure Assange faces justice."
WikiLeaks's Twitter account has issued a series of tweets
defending Assange and asking for donations.
"URGENT: Ecuador has illigally terminated Assange
political asylum in violation of international law. He was arrested by the
British police inside the Ecuadorian embassy minutes ago," one tweet
said.
___________________
IN
OTHER NEWS
Barr testifies 'spying did occur' on Trump
campaign, amid reported review of informant's role
Attorney General Bill Barr testified Wednesday that he believes
"spying did occur" on the Trump campaign in 2016, as he vowed to
review the conduct of the FBI's original Russia probe -- and the focus of a
related internal review shifted to the role of a key FBI informant.
"I think spying did occur. The question is whether
it was adequately predicated. … I think it’s my obligation. Congress is
usually very concerned with intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies
staying in their proper lane," he testified before a Senate Appropriations
subcommittee, while noting that "spying on a political campaign is a big
deal."
The comments follow a new report that the Justice
Department’s internal watchdog also is scrutinizing the role of an
FBI informant who contacted members of the Trump campaign during the 2016
election, as part of a broader review of the early stages of the Russia
investigation.
The New York Times reported that Justice
Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is looking into
informant Stefan Halper’s work during the Russia probe, as
well as his work with the FBI prior to the start of that probe.
Professor Stefan Halper (Voice of America, File)
Halper, an American professor who reportedly is deeply
connected with British and American intelligence agencies, has been widely
reported as a confidential source for the FBI during the bureau’s original
investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. That official
counterintelligence operation was opened by then-senior agent Peter Strzok, who
has since been fired from the bureau.
During the 2016 campaign, Halper contacted several
members of the Trump campaign, including former foreign policy adviser George
Papadopoulos and former aide Carter Page.
Photo: Carter Page (AP File)
Page also was the subject of several
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants during the campaign --
which is an issue at the heart of the IG's investigation. Republicans,
including President Trump, have alleged misconduct in the bureau and Justice
Department’s handling of those FISA warrants.
"It was an illegal investigation. ... Everything
about it was crooked," Trump told reporters on Wednesday, describing it as
an attempted "coup" and reiterating his interest in digging into the
probe's origins. "There is a hunger for that to happen."
The Times, in its report, noted that Halper also
contacted former Trump campaign aide Sam Clovis. It is unclear whether Halper
had the FBI’s permission to contact Clovis, according to the report.
Horowitz, more broadly, is probing alleged
wrongdoing related to the issuance of FISA warrants to surveil Page during the
election. During a prior hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Barr testified
that Horowitz’s investigation is expected to be complete by May or June.
While vowing to release Special Counsel Robert Mueller's
now-completed Russia report in a matter of days, Barr also announced Tuesday
that he was reviewing the origins of the Russia investigation at the FBI and
the Justice Department, amid mounting calls for scrutiny of the probe's
beginnings from Trump and prominent congressional Republicans.
“More generally, I am reviewing the conduct of the
investigation and trying to get my arms around all of the aspects of the
counterintelligence investigation that was conducted in the summer of 2016,”
Barr told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, Fox News reported that a source said
Barr had assembled a “team” to investigate the origins of the bureau’s
counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign.
On Wednesday, Barr testified that he hasn't technically
"set up a team" but has colleagues helping him as he reviews the
case.
"This is not launching an investigation of the
FBI," he stressed. "Frankly, to the extent there were issues at the
FBI, I do not view it as a problem of the FBI. I think it was probably a
failure of the group of leaders—the upper echelons of the FBI. I think the FBI
is an outstanding organization and I am very pleased Director Chris Wray is
there."
He added, "If it becomes necessary to look over
former officials, I expect to rely on Chris and work with him. I have an
obligation to make sure government power is not abused and I think that’s one
of the principal roles of the attorney general."
The FBI’s 2016 counterintelligence investigation,
formally opened by Strzok, began with a “paucity” of evidence, according to
former FBI counsel Lisa Page, with whom Strzok was romantically involved.
During a closed-door congressional interview, Page admitted that the FBI “knew
so little” about whether allegations against the Trump campaign were “true or
not true” at the time they opened the probe, adding that they had just “a
paucity of evidence because we [were] just starting down the path” of vetting
allegations.
Page also said in her interview that it was “entirely
common” that the FBI would begin an investigation with just a “small amount of
evidence.”
Barr’s team will also review the FISA warrants issued
against Carter Page. The issuance of the FISA warrants relied, in part, on the
unverified anti-Trump dossier authored by ex-British Intelligence Agent
Christopher Steele.
Photo: Christopher Steele (AP File)
Steele worked on behalf of Fusion GPS—a firm paid by the
Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee through law firm
Perkins Coie to do opposition research against the Trump campaign.
In the
dossier, Steele accused Page of conspiring with Russians. Page was not charged
with any wrongdoing in either the FBI’s Russia probe or Mueller’s.
Fox News exclusively obtained internal FBI text messages last
month showing that just nine days before the FBI applied for the Page FISA
warrant, bureau officials were battling with a senior Justice Department
official who had "continued concerns" about the "possible
bias" of a source pivotal to the application.
Barr’s review could also dovetail with the work U.S.
Attorney John Huber has been doing. In 2017, former Attorney General Jeff
Sessions appointed Huber to review not only alleged surveillance abuses by the
Justice Department and the FBI but also the handling of the probe into the
Clinton Foundation and other matters.
The day following Barr’s release of his summary of the
Mueller report, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham,
R-S.C., said his panel also would investigate alleged FISA abuses at the start
of the Russia investigation and called on Barr to appoint a new special
counsel to investigate “the other side of the story.”
Graham has been calling
for a second special counsel since 2017 to investigate “whether or not a
counterintelligence investigation was opened as a back door to spy on the Trump
campaign.”
Also, House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin
Nunes, R-Calif., said over the weekend he was preparing to send eight criminal
referrals to the Justice Department this week regarding alleged misconduct by
DOJ and FBI officials during the Trump-Russia investigation. It is unclear whom
Nunes will refer for investigation, and what the process at the Justice
Department might be.
When asked Tuesday about Nunes’ referrals, Barr said he
hasn’t seen them yet, but, “Obviously, if there is a predicate for
investigation, it will be conducted.”
Fox News’ Gregg Re and Jake Gibson
contributed to this report.
