Epstein Secrets

rded among hacktiv- ists that Assange chose him as his keynote speaker replacement at the Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) convention in New York City. Assange told Rolling Stone, “Jake [Appelbaum] has been a tireless promoter behind the scenes of our cause.” For its part, Rolling Stone titled its profile of

zed release of communications intelligence documents would violate U.S. espionage laws. Even so, there was no shortage of activists overseas, such as Assange, who would be willing to publish NSA documents revealing its global sur- veillance activities. Cyberpunks, as these activists called themselves, tend

after meetings with Greenwald and Poitras, his name had still not been revealed, no criminal complaint had been issued against him, and there was no Interpol red alert for his deten- tion. He could have walked out of the Mira hotel, caught a taxi to the Hong Kong airport, and gone on Swiss International Ai

h one of his senior staff members to help him engineer his escape to Russia. That senior staff member was Sarah Harrison, After speaking to Snowden, Assange called Harrison, who was in Melbourne, Australia. She had gone there a month earlier to help organize Assange’s somewhat quixotic election campaign f

nwhile, Snowden was organizing his own exit from Hong Kong. He placed a call to Julian Assange. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020256 105 CHAPTER THIRTEEN Enter Assange “Thanks to Russia (and thanks to WikiLeaks), Snowden remains free.” — Julian Assange Born on July 3, 1971 in Queensland, Australia, Julian Assange h

e. Once the US government filed charges, he could further expect it would invalidate his passport to go anywhere except for his return to the US and Interpol would issue a red alert to all its members. Since the case involved national security secrets, the Hong Kong court might also deny him any use of the

to The New York Times, and he suggested as punishment “those people should be shot in the balls.” Either he had a change of heart, or he was telling Assange what he believed he wanted to hear. Assange counseled Snowden to go directly to Russia. “My advice was that he should take asylum in Russia despite

t filed charges, though, Snowden could further expect it would invalidate his passport to go anywhere except for his return to the United States, and Interpol would issue a red alert to all its mem- bers. Because his case involved national security secrets, he had also to consider that the Hong Kong court c