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Nov. 16, 2018 / 7:11 AM GMT
By Dennis Romero
A U.S. District Court filing in the Eastern District of Virginia reveals that prosecutors appear to have prepared an indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
It’s not clear what allegations could be connected to the filing, which was a motion to seal a complaint and supporting documents in an unrelated case.
Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, noticed that Assange’s name was in the filing, and he tweeted about it.
On Thursday night, WikiLeaks’ Twitter account further publicized the filing.
The court document states, “The complaint, supporting affidavit and arrest warrant, as well as this motion and the proposed order, would need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this manner.”
Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement to media outlets, including the Washington Post, which first reported the filing, “The court filing was made in error. That was not the intended name for this filing.”
WikiLeaks and Assange loom large in the investigation of Russian influence on the election.
The website released unflattering Hillary Clinton campaign emails beginning Oct. 7, 2016, just weeks before the presidential election.
In July, special counsel Robert Mueller, who’s directing a federal inquiry into election meddling, charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with conspiracy to violate U.S. election laws by stealing Democratic emails and releasing them through WikiLeaks and other venues.
Assange, an Australian national, is living under asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. He said in a recent lawsuit that Ecuador is changing the terms of his protection there.