Robert Mueller’s plan to take down Julian Assange
Now that grand jury proceedings have spelled out that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is about to indict and arrest Donald Trump’s longtime pal Roger Stone, all eyes are on Stone’s alleged Trump Russia co-conspirator Julian Assange, who is also likely to be indicted. Ecuador has recently made clear that it’s preparing to toss Assange from its embassy. Now a new development suggests that Assange expects to be extradited and is effectively shopping himself around.
While Ecuador has been willing to defy the Swedish authorities who brought criminal charges against Assange several years ago, the United States has never formally charged Assange with any crime. Ecuador’s sudden move to dump Julian Assange appears to be under the expectation that Robert Mueller will seek Assange’s extradition, and its wariness at defying an extradition request from the United States. Australia met with Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK this Thursday, according to major Australian newspapers, raising eyebrows.
Australia has no reason to initiate a meeting with Assange, so it can be fairly safely assumed that it was Assange who requested the meeting. The only thing Assange would be seeking at this point is a new nation to give him asylum. There is no way the Australian government is going to give him that in defiance of a U.S. extradition request, so the Australians must have merely granted Assange’s meeting request as a courtesy. We’ll see if Assange manages to find any takers.
But it’s now pretty clear that Julian Assange is trying to hurry up and find himself a new home before Robert Mueller can indict and extradite him. And if Assange’s indictment is imminent, then so is Roger Stone’s indictment. We’re looking at an interesting stretch coming up.
