Carey Shenkman: Mike Pompeo, the former CIA director, just published a book where he gloats about how he pressured the Ecuadorian government to get rid of Assange. He talked about how he hoped that Assange would be extradited and prosecuted. So, in fact, there are high level officials in the US government that were hoping to take extra legal means to spy on Assange, spy on his lawyers, spy on his visitors.
Robert Scheer: They had copies of his conversation with his attorneys.
Shenkman: Yeah, they’re spying on his lawyers, just as they did with Daniel Ellsberg. I mean, these prosecutions. They think they’re above the law, and that’s really horrifying.
Scheer: Well they are above the law. Let’s cut to the chase here.
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World’s first Atlas of Impunity:
The US is closer to the median than top performers and ranks higher on impunity than both Hungary and Singapore. The US result reflects a weaker performance on the conflict and violence and human rights indicators.