WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and faces up to five years in prison.
The indictment alleges that Assange helped the former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning hack a password on a classified Pentagon computer.In a statement Thursday, the Justice Department said the charge against Assange is connected to his alleged role in the 2010 release of thousands of pages of classified US government documents and videos related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"Manning, who had access to the computers in connection with her duties as an intelligence analyst, was using the computers to download classified records to transmit to WikiLeaks," the statement added. "Cracking the password would have allowed Manning to log on to the computers under a username that did not belong to her. Such a deceptive measure would have made it more difficult for investigators to determine the source of the illegal disclosures."
Assange was arrested in London on Thursday after nearly a decade of asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy and it's unclear if he will be extradited to the US.WikiLeaks has been at the center of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference, and Assange is an extremely divisive figure in the US.
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