American officials had debated bringing charges against Julian Assange almost from the moment in 2010 that his organization WikiLeaks dumped onto the internet a historic trove of classified documents, including internal State Department communications and assessments of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.
But through the years, the case languished. Some prosecutors reasoned that Assange was arguably a publisher, if a capricious one. Concerned that proving a criminal case against him would run up against the First Amendment and, if successful, set a precedent for future media prosecutions, the Obama administration chose to put the case aside.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein came to his boss’s defense Thursday, saying it was “bizarre” for anyone to claim Attorney General William Barr is “trying to mislead people” by not immediately releasing the special counsel’s report.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, his first since Robert S. Mueller III concluded the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Rosenstein tried to tamp down criticisms of Barr’s handling of the report and the time it is taking him to release it.
“He’s being as forthcoming as he can, and so this notion that he’s trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre,” Rosenstein said in the interview.

Federal prosecutors in California announced on Thursday three dozen charges against Michael Avenatti, the prominent attorney best known for his criticisms of President Donald Trump, accusing the lawyer of stealing millions of dollars from his clients and funneling their money into his own interests, including co-ownership of a $5 million private jet.
The indictment was sweeping in its scope, accusing Avenatti of defrauding clients for more than four years. The charges included bleak details, including assertions that Avenatti’s alleged actions caused a paraplegic client to lose his Supplemental Security Income benefits, which are paid to adults and children who have disabilities, and prevented the same client from using settlement money to buy a home.

The city of Chicago sued Jussie Smollett for more than $130,000 on Thursday to recover the cost of police overtime spent looking into an alleged hate crime against him.
The “Empire” actor has been accused of orchestrating the Jan. 29 assault, during which he says two men yelled racist and anti-gay slurs while beating him, pouring an unknown chemical substance on him and wrapping a rope around his neck. Smollett, 36, was indicted on 16 felony counts in early March for allegedly lying to police about the altercation – one count per alleged lie – but Cook County prosecutors dropped all criminal charges on March 26, citing his two days of community service and agreement to forfeit his $10,000 bond to the city.

President Trump on Thursday sought to distance himself from WikiLeaks after founder Julian Assange’s arrest in London, even though he praised the group during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if he still loves the organization.
Trump repeatedly professed his affinity for WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign, when it published emails that were stolen from Democrats by Russian hackers as part of Moscow’s effort to hurt Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Rav Yitzchak of Drovitch (1758). He was the father of R’ Yechiel Michel, the Maggid of Zlotschov. In later years, Rav Yitzchak served as the official maggid or “mochiach” (admonisher) and dayan in the beis din of Brod at the time when Rav Yitzchak of Hamburg was serving as the town’s rav. Rav Yitzchak’s name is specifically attached to Drohobitch, a town that lies 40 miles south of Lelov and today is a major petroleum refining center.

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President Donald Trump’s sister has retired as a federal appellate judge in Philadelphia, ending a civil misconduct inquiry launched after a report that she participated in Trump family schemes to dodge taxes.
The retirement of Maryanne Trump Barry was revealed in an April 1 order signed by a top court official in New York, where the misconduct case was assigned to prevent conflicts of interest for judges who knew Barry.
The April 1 order said Barry’s voluntary retirement ends the review stemming from claims based on the a New York Times article alleging that Barry may have committed misconduct relating to tax and financial transactions that occurred mostly in the 1980s and 1990s to help the family evade inheritance taxes..

An 18-year old man was critically injured when a bus rolled over on Thursday evening near Shomria in the Negev.
Five other people were moderately injured and three others were lightly wounded. The injured people were evacuated to hospitals in ambulances and an MDA helicopter.
The bus, which was empty of passengers at the time, rolled over for an unknown reason, injuring the young men who were on their way to a paratrooper military formation. The bus driver was detained for questioning by the police. The military police are opening an investigation as well.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Matzav.com}

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