0:02

Due to the graphic nature of this

0:04

episode, listener discretion is advised. This

0:07

episode includes discussions of war

0:09

crimes, sexual assault, and criminal

0:11

activity. Consider this one

0:13

deciding how and when you'll listen. If

0:19

you've listened to this show long,

0:21

you've heard many theories surrounding

0:23

cover-ups, hidden documents, and government secrets.

0:27

Today we'll be covering those usual

0:29

suspects, but this time it's

0:32

all real. The

0:34

cover-up, the hidden documents, the

0:37

government secrets, all

0:39

confirmed fact. All

0:42

thanks to a man who believed the truth

0:44

was being kept in the shadows and

0:46

went up against the US government to

0:49

prove it. Welcome

0:51

to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify

0:54

podcast. I'm Carter Roy. You

0:57

can find us here every Wednesday. Be

0:59

sure to check us out on Instagram

1:01

at the Conspiracy Pod. We

1:04

would love to hear from you, so if you're listening on

1:06

the Spotify app, swipe up and give

1:08

us your thoughts. This

1:10

week we're covering Julian

1:13

Assange, a man

1:15

who helped uncover real-life conspiracies.

1:18

An activist and expert hacker,

1:21

Assange founded the website WikiLeaks in

1:23

early 2006. In

1:27

2010, he garnered worldwide attention

1:29

for several massive information drops

1:31

that exposed some of the

1:33

darkest aspects of US foreign

1:35

relations. His work

1:37

forced the world to contend with the

1:39

line between a government's right to have

1:41

secrets and the public's

1:44

right to transparency. Thanks

1:56

for watching. I'm Carter Roy. See you next week.

2:00

This episode is brought to you by Max, the

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2:30

many podcasts, The Y-Files covers

2:32

conspiracies, aliens, time travel, ancient

2:34

civilizations. Some are very serious

2:37

about this stuff. They believe every

2:39

detail, even if they don't quite add

2:41

up. Others tear a story apart. What

2:43

fun is that? The Y-Files is different.

2:45

First we explore the mystery. Then together

2:47

we separate fact from fiction and see

2:49

what's left. Some legends can't be debunked,

2:51

and those are my favorites. The Y-Files

2:53

is on Spotify or anywhere you get

2:55

your podcasts. The X-Files said the truth

2:57

is out there, but the Y-Files, the

2:59

truth is right here. Before

3:03

we begin, amongst the many sources we

3:05

used, we found The Most

3:07

Dangerous Man in the World by

3:09

Andrew Fowler. Extremely helpful for our

3:11

research. By

3:16

16 years old, Julian Assange

3:18

was a computer hacker. By

3:21

19, he'd broken into

3:23

the Australian National University's sophisticated

3:25

computer system, along with

3:28

a like-minded trio of computer

3:30

aficionados that called themselves the

3:33

International Subversives. By

3:35

20, he'd hacked the Lonsdale

3:38

Telephone Exchange, one of

3:40

Australia's most powerful computer systems.

3:43

Once inside, Assange made

3:45

thousands of telephones ring all

3:47

at once. His next

3:50

project had to be even bigger.

3:53

Like hacking into top-secret

3:55

US military installations. Using

3:59

programs, Assange had written, the

4:01

international subversives hacked into the

4:03

US Air Force, the

4:06

aerospace company Lockheed Martin, and

4:08

the US Naval Undersea Warfare

4:11

Engineering Station. These

4:13

missions probably started out as little more

4:15

than a chance for Assange to flex

4:17

his hacking skills, maybe pull another prank,

4:21

but they were destined to be

4:23

more, because what

4:25

Assange found behind the screen deeply

4:27

disturbed him. The US

4:30

military had its own network

4:32

of hackers. Assange

4:36

saw this as an affront to his

4:38

cause. Hackers were

4:40

supposed to disrupt the system, not enforce

4:42

it. He'd never trusted

4:45

authority, and this made him

4:47

even wearier. Before

4:49

he could decide what to do with the revelation,

4:52

his world turned upside down again. In

4:55

1991, his girlfriend left

4:57

him and took their baby son with

5:00

her. Assange fought for

5:02

custody and lost, the

5:04

way he saw it the courts didn't want

5:06

men to have custody. That

5:09

was unfair, an injustice.

5:13

But why be surprised? The

5:15

system was never meant to be fair, unless

5:18

he stepped up and overturned it. He

5:21

wouldn't be able to get more time with his son,

5:24

but perhaps his hacking talents could

5:26

help bring justice and transparency to

5:28

other parts of the world. Soon,

5:31

Assange connected with more

5:33

like-minded computer programmers online.

5:37

This new group dubbed themselves the

5:39

Cypher Punks, A club

5:42

of hackers, mathematicians, non-conformists and

5:44

activists who stood for a

5:46

free and open Internet. I'm.

6:00

John. He. In

6:03

the late nineties, Young had

6:06

established a website called

6:08

Krypton, a platform dedicated to

6:10

freedom of speech, exposing government

6:13

impropriety, and hosting leaked government

6:15

documents. Young. Told Wired

6:17

Magazine we like to put up

6:20

original documents so people can make

6:22

up their own minds. We.

6:24

See it as a librarian

6:26

Service. Assumes. Was

6:29

fascinated with Krypton. It

6:32

seem like the perfect way to promote

6:34

free speech in a more open government.

6:37

But. It was a bit

6:39

dry. It got zero publicity. And

6:42

basically no one was reading it.

6:45

Perhaps. There was a better way to do things.

6:48

One with more of the drama as as

6:50

a songs learned as a young hacker making

6:52

a thousand telephones ring all at once. A

6:55

sons' register. the site leaks.board in

6:57

Nineteen Ninety Nine, But it would

6:59

be six years before he figured

7:01

out how to make it work.

7:04

Or. What to

7:06

call? it? One

7:08

day, assigns was scribbling seriously on

7:10

a whiteboard ranting to his girlfriend

7:13

about his latest version of the

7:15

website. This would be a whistle

7:17

blowing site where anyone in the

7:20

world could post documents anonymously through

7:22

a complex system of impenetrable safeguards.

7:24

Even he wouldn't know who'd pass

7:27

documents to the site. But

7:29

unlike Quip tome. His

7:32

side wouldn't just quietly post the

7:34

documents on an obscure corner of

7:36

the internet. He'd make

7:38

sure they made it to the

7:40

people by searing tips to the mainstream

7:42

media and giving it a name

7:44

that would become a buzzword. Across

7:47

the Whiteboard A Songs wrote. Wiki

7:51

Leaks. A. Songs

7:53

reached out to John Young of

7:55

Crypto and asked him to be

7:57

a silent partner. Young agreed. It

8:00

helped us orange register wiki

8:02

leaks.org in California. From there

8:04

are signs, worked tirelessly, gathering

8:06

support among like minded Anarchists,

8:09

setting up safeguards for anyone

8:11

who wanted to pass information

8:13

to the site. Still,

8:16

By late two thousand and six a

8:18

sauna had yet to post anything to

8:20

Wiki leaks. Because. He

8:22

didn't have any good leaks.

8:25

He needed something really interesting.

8:27

something newsworthy, splashy, So.

8:29

We waited. And waited

8:32

and furiously reviewed every

8:34

submission he received. Until.

8:37

It's. A plan

8:40

to assassinate Somali government

8:42

officials. Knots. A

8:44

revelation of government corruption, but

8:47

still a matter of great

8:49

importance. Leaking. The document

8:52

prematurely, however, posed risks.

8:55

Are Signs and his team of

8:57

an artist techies weren't confident in

8:59

the accuracy of their translations of

9:01

the Somalian documents. More

9:03

importantly, because the League or was

9:06

anonymous even to a sons' They.

9:08

Couldn't be certain the document

9:10

was authentic. Allegedly the document

9:12

was from someone in the

9:14

Chinese government's though it was

9:17

written by Somali rebel leader

9:19

say Cassandra here. always. There

9:22

was also the issue of where

9:24

to publish the document A sauna

9:26

considered sharing it with mainstream publications,

9:29

but in the end he decided

9:31

to publish it in fall, and

9:33

in order to avoid any possible

9:35

censorship. Exclusively on Wiki

9:37

leaks, he was determined that

9:39

the public alone should be

9:42

the judge and jury. So.

9:44

In December, two thousand and six

9:46

Wiki leaks published it's first documents.

9:50

And in a taste. Failed.

9:52

To notify one of it's

9:54

first supporters. John. Yawn.

9:58

jones was few He

10:01

hadn't been consulted about the Somalian

10:03

documents at all. He'd

10:05

been left out of a crucial stage

10:07

of WikiLeaks development. Is that

10:09

what silent partner was supposed to mean?

10:12

To make matters worse, Jung did

10:14

receive an email from Assange

10:17

asking for money. Assange

10:19

was soliciting $5 million to fund

10:22

the next six months of the

10:24

site's operations. Jung

10:26

spiraled. He was convinced

10:28

he'd either been scammed or

10:31

was being willfully ignored. So

10:34

he retaliated. He published

10:37

a list of hundreds of WikiLeaks

10:39

contacts, both employees

10:41

and supporters, on

10:43

crypto. WikiLeaks had

10:45

successfully launched, but

10:47

in the process Assange alienated

10:50

his first supporter and

10:52

damaged all of his current

10:54

contacts. If

10:56

he wanted to pursue his mission, Julian

10:59

Assange needed new allies and

11:02

fast. Luckily, he

11:04

was able to strike a partnership

11:06

with UK newspaper The Guardian. It

11:09

was a good deal. The Guardian

11:11

would get top secret intel, and

11:14

WikiLeaks got access to the newspaper's

11:16

audience. Together, they

11:18

published a 2007 expose

11:21

revealing that former Kenyan president

11:23

Daniel Arab Moy had siphoned

11:25

hundreds of millions of dollars

11:27

of government funds. The

11:29

article noted that Moy had gone on

11:32

to acquire multiple lavish properties in London,

11:34

New York and South Africa. The

11:38

reporting established a critical working

11:40

relationship between WikiLeaks and The

11:43

Guardian. But not

11:45

all of the relationships Assange forged

11:47

were as amicable. His

11:49

release of highly classified information

11:52

earned him a slew of

11:55

enemies. obtained

12:00

evidence from a Cayman Islands accountant

12:02

that the Julius Baer bank

12:04

and its clients were committing tax

12:07

evasion. When the evidence

12:09

was published, the bank's lawyers

12:11

demanded that Assange remove the documents

12:13

from the internet. When

12:16

Assange refused, the bank took him to

12:18

court. And in February 2008,

12:22

Judge Jeffrey White ruled that publishing

12:24

the documents violated the bank's

12:26

clients' right to privacy. He

12:29

issued an injunction which forced WikiLeaks'

12:31

domain registrar to shut down the

12:33

site. But

12:36

Assange was unfazed by the injunction.

12:39

He'd already bought more than half a

12:41

dozen domain names. He'd

12:43

simply switched to a new one and directed

12:45

to the exact same site. He

12:49

didn't respect the tax evaders. He

12:52

didn't respect the court. He'd

12:54

keep fighting for transparency and

12:56

truth, whatever the consequences. And

13:01

surprisingly, this actually gained him

13:03

new fans and allies. The

13:06

American Civil Liberties Union, the

13:09

Electronic Frontier Foundation, and

13:11

the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

13:14

all fervently insisted that the court's

13:16

ruling violated the First Amendment

13:18

right to free speech. These

13:21

groups gathered supporters from nearly all

13:23

of the major newspaper publishers in

13:26

the US and demanded that WikiLeaks'

13:28

domain be reinstated. They

13:30

insisted that the privacy and commercial

13:32

interests of Julius Baer Bank were

13:34

not enough to merit the obstruction

13:36

of the First Amendment. WikiLeaks

13:39

may only be a website,

13:41

not a news publication, but

13:44

they were essentially doing what journalists

13:46

do every day, digging

13:48

up the truth and bringing it

13:50

to public attention. If

13:52

this ruling stood, the entire

13:55

free press would

13:57

be in jeopardy. In

14:10

early 2008, Julian

14:12

Assange's rights as a journalist were

14:14

up against tax evaders' rights of

14:16

privacy. When Judge White

14:18

of the U.S. District Court for

14:21

the Northern District of California issued

14:23

an injunction against Assange and WikiLeaks,

14:25

it created a media firestorm. And

14:29

under massive pressure, Judge

14:32

White reversed his decision within

14:34

two weeks. WikiLeaks

14:36

and Assange were free to keep

14:38

informing the public of whatever secret

14:40

documents they got their hands on.

14:44

And they didn't even have to change domain names.

14:47

For now. But

14:50

media organizations and civil liberty

14:52

groups weren't the only ones

14:54

watching Assange. It

14:57

caught the eye of the U.S.

14:59

military. In March

15:01

2008, the U.S.

15:03

Army's Counterintelligence Center issued

15:05

a special report focused

15:08

entirely on WikiLeaks, which,

15:10

ironically enough, Assange

15:13

got a hold of and leaked two years later.

15:16

According to the report, WikiLeaks

15:18

posed an information security

15:20

threat. Who knew

15:23

how far Assange would go, how

15:25

many secrets he would share, and

15:27

whose revelations might hurt. After

15:31

all, there were new leaks all the time. Some

15:34

documents came from the Church of

15:36

Scientology detailing the organization's

15:38

instructions for dealing with negative

15:41

press, including blackmail.

15:44

Others came from U.S. Vice Presidential

15:46

candidate Sarah Palin. She'd

15:48

been accused of using her private email

15:51

account for official government matters. A

15:54

successful hack mere weeks before

15:56

the 2008 election proved

15:59

these accusations. and in April 2010, Assange

16:01

dove into the deep end, inviting

16:07

the media to his biggest

16:09

press conference yet. It

16:13

was a warm, cloudy spring day

16:15

in Washington, D.C. The

16:18

air was light with the promise of better weather

16:20

to come. Members of

16:22

the media made their way into the National Press

16:24

Club. They were curious,

16:27

speculating about what Julian Assange would be

16:30

revealing this time. But

16:33

they couldn't have anticipated the magnitude

16:35

of what awaited them. Assange,

16:38

armed with laptops and

16:40

precious cargo, was

16:42

more jittery than usual. Having

16:45

just arrived from Iceland, he admitted to

16:47

feeling nervous. But

16:49

he passed through customs uneventfully, an indication

16:52

that no one suspected the impending barrage.

16:56

Assange took the floor

16:58

of the National Press Club, steadying

17:01

himself as he prepared to address the media. He

17:05

informed them they were about to see a very

17:08

rich story. After

17:11

a moment, the video screens behind him

17:13

turned on, and

17:16

a quote from George Orwell appeared. Political language is

17:19

designed to make lies sound truthful, and

17:24

murder respectable, and to give the appearance

17:26

of solidity to pure wind. Then,

17:29

the quote was replaced with text, explaining

17:33

what the audience was about to

17:35

witness, a

17:38

video called, Collateral

17:40

Murder. Assange

17:44

had acquired footage from 2007 airstrikes in

17:46

Baghdad, strikes

17:50

that, according to the US government, had

17:53

only resulted in the deaths of Anti-iraqi

17:56

forces or insurgents. But.

18:00

That's not what the Press

18:03

Club saw in the Saunders.

18:05

horrifying seventeen minute video. They.

18:08

Watch the Us Army Apache

18:10

helicopter open fire on a

18:12

group of Iraqi civilians. Among.

18:15

Those slaughtered were to Reuters

18:18

news employees. In the

18:20

background or the video. Us.

18:22

Crew members were heard praising

18:24

their target skills, saying. Oh

18:27

yeah, look at those dead

18:29

bastards. Nice. Good. Suton. The.

18:32

Apache Helicopter continued. It sees on a

18:34

van that it stop to rescue some

18:37

of the wounded men. Injuring.

18:39

Two small children. Upon

18:42

discovering the kids, another crew member

18:44

can be heard saying, well it's

18:47

their fault bringing their kids to

18:49

battle. When. The lights

18:51

came up around the songs. Members

18:53

of the Us. military struggled to

18:55

hide their embarrassment. The. Films

18:58

and the Pentagon into a flurry. Making.

19:00

Desperate excuses and trying to

19:03

pin down food leaked video.

19:06

The. Appalling contents wasn't the only

19:08

cause for disturbance. It.

19:11

Would later be reported that multiple

19:13

media outlets. Had access to

19:15

the video ahead of time. And.

19:18

Chose not to reveal it's

19:20

contents. Are signs allege

19:22

that they suppress the video in the

19:24

interest of receiving even better tips from

19:26

the Us military down the line. But.

19:30

Unlike earlier leaks, This

19:33

one didn't make any siblings. A.

19:36

Sanders supporters suggested this was because

19:38

of the media's allegiance to the

19:41

military. They. Ignored d

19:43

Collateral Murder video just as they

19:45

had the first time. On the

19:47

other hand, Members. The media

19:49

argued that the video made crucial

19:52

klutz. That. obscured the us

19:54

military's armed opponents on the scene

19:56

at the battle after all a

19:58

saunders seven 17-minute video was cut

20:01

out of 39 minutes

20:03

of total footage. Others

20:05

argued that the video only showed a moment

20:08

in time, giving a little

20:10

indication of the deep complexities of fighting

20:12

a war. Assange's

20:15

work wasn't journalism. It

20:17

was showmanship. Even

20:20

CNN, the outlet where Assange expected

20:22

to receive the most coverage, refused

20:25

to play the footage out

20:27

of respect for the relatives. This

20:31

was a distinct shift from the

20:33

response to earlier whistle-blowing by WikiLeaks

20:35

like the Cayman Islands tax fraud

20:37

case. Now Assange

20:40

had alienated many members of the

20:42

press who championed him just

20:44

a few years earlier. Still,

20:47

Assange wouldn't back down. In

20:49

fact, he seemed to thrive

20:52

on the discomfort he'd caused. It

20:55

wasn't time to stop. It was time

20:57

to go bigger. So

20:59

he flew back to Australia while awaiting

21:01

the next big leak. Landing

21:04

in Melbourne, he was tense

21:06

with anticipation, aware

21:08

that his status as the Golden

21:11

Boy whistleblower was slipping, that

21:13

the US government might retaliate. He

21:16

made his way through customs cautiously, expecting

21:19

the worst. At

21:23

immigration, the officer noted

21:25

how worn Assange's passport was

21:29

and mentioned that he needed a new one. Then

21:32

he disappeared behind a screen. When

21:34

he came back, he explained that Assange

21:36

wasn't being flagged. It was a routine

21:39

check. That was

21:41

a lie. Behind

21:43

the screen, the immigration officer

21:46

had handed Assange's passport

21:48

to the Australian federal

21:50

police. They quickly

21:52

photocopied it, collecting a

21:54

complete record of his travels. Julian

21:58

Assange Was on a wall. Watch

22:00

list. But. For

22:02

the time being. He was free to

22:04

go. And free to

22:06

continue his international travels.

22:13

Less. Than two months later, on

22:15

June Thirtieth, Two Thousand and Ten,

22:18

The Sun sat in the Guardians

22:20

London offices, wiping his sweaty brow

22:22

as he combed through the latest

22:25

documents on his laptop. On

22:27

that muggy summer day, he

22:29

worked with Nick Davis, a

22:31

leading investigative reporter from The

22:34

Guardian, Eric Schmidt from the

22:36

New York Times, and John

22:38

Gets A Reporter from Dear

22:40

Spiegel. This was a

22:42

massive sleep. So Signs

22:44

had decided to enlist international

22:46

helps to disseminate it as

22:48

quickly and widely as possible.

22:51

Collaboration with a mainstream media

22:53

also offered a sons' an

22:55

element of protection. Once he

22:57

was less likely to offend

22:59

them to, he felt that

23:01

the Pentagon would see him

23:03

as a journalist and treat

23:05

him accordingly. Even

23:07

in the face of the information

23:10

he was about to share. A

23:15

Songs had obtained more than

23:17

ninety one thousand secret documents

23:19

related to the war in

23:21

Afghanistan, and on July ten,

23:23

two thousand and ten, he

23:25

and his journalistic cohorts were

23:27

going to publish them. The.

23:29

Documents were a major bombshell,

23:31

and not just because of

23:34

their sheer volume, they provided

23:36

never before seen insight into

23:38

the war with Afghanistan and

23:41

it's ramifications. Not unlike Daniel

23:43

Ellsberg Pentagon Papers had for

23:45

the Vietnam War almost forty

23:47

years earlier. The. afghanistan

23:50

documents described hundreds of unreported

23:52

civilian deaths they also described

23:54

how the united states had

23:57

lied to the public cover

23:59

up evidence that the Taliban

24:02

had acquired deadly missiles. Assange

24:05

and his colleagues worked furiously to

24:07

sift through the documents, yelling

24:09

out whenever they found anything of note. But

24:13

as they made their way through the pages, the

24:16

issue of redaction arose, that

24:19

is, removing the names of people mentioned in

24:21

the documents in order to protect them. Assange's

24:24

colleagues pressed him to redact the

24:26

names. His WikiLeaks

24:28

team reiterated the request. Even

24:31

a White House spokesman who'd caught wind

24:34

of the impending leak pleaded for redaction.

24:37

Still, Assange seemed

24:39

relatively unconcerned, pointing

24:42

out that they had to get these

24:44

documents out before the U.S. government stopped

24:46

them. They'd do their

24:49

best to redact, but WikiLeaks

24:51

was going to make sure the public knew

24:53

the truth even at a

24:55

price. In

24:59

the end, 15,000 of the 91,000 documents were

25:01

withheld because the names couldn't be

25:05

redacted in time. The

25:07

rest of the documents seemed to be

25:09

redacted, but there wasn't time

25:11

to make sure every name was hidden

25:14

before Assange's deadline. At

25:17

10.03 p.m. on July

25:19

10, 2010, WikiLeaks

25:21

and its mainstream media partners published

25:23

the Afghan war logs. The

25:26

news set off a bombshell. The

25:29

public was shocked by the U.S.'s

25:31

lies, by the civilian deaths

25:33

that had been suppressed, and

25:35

by the sheer size of this leak. International

25:38

headlines wasted no time tapping into the

25:40

drama. Things like Larry

25:43

King Live and Dateline covered it, interviewing

25:45

Assange and asking if he

25:48

believed that war crimes had been committed.

25:51

But while Assange was pleased to see the

25:53

truth let out, trouble

25:55

was afoot. still

26:00

contain the names of people of interest.

26:04

And Assange came under fire for putting their

26:06

lives at risk. Amnesty

26:08

International and Reporters Without

26:10

Borders, once swiggy-leaked

26:13

supporters, wrote to Assange

26:15

condemning the careless journalism. From

26:18

their viewpoint, he'd only gotten

26:20

sloppier since the collateral murder video.

26:23

They wrote that publishing the

26:25

report represented a real problem

26:28

of methodology and therefore credibility.

26:31

The news that leaked was overshadowed by

26:33

the way the information was revealed. And

26:37

this put the entire mission at risk, because

26:39

Assange and WikiLeaks no

26:41

longer had the moral high ground. This

26:45

was no Washington insider judiciously distributing

26:47

a few documents he believed should

26:49

be made public. This

26:52

was a wholesale assault on the right

26:54

of the government to have secrets. At

26:57

the same time, for much of the

26:59

public, the incident clarified

27:01

why those secrets were sometimes

27:04

justified. Recklessly revealing

27:06

the names and locations of

27:08

vulnerable targets could lead to

27:10

the deaths of Americans and their allies.

27:16

The U.S. government and the FBI

27:18

were reeling. The New

27:20

York Times reported that Justice

27:22

Department lawyers were exploring whether

27:24

WikiLeaks could be charged with

27:27

inducing or conspiring in violation

27:29

of the Espionage Act. Technically,

27:32

he was passing intel to

27:34

the United States enemies. Whether

27:37

he did it through a public forum or not

27:39

didn't matter. The secrets were

27:41

getting out. Complicating matters

27:44

were Assange's journalistic rights, which had

27:46

been established in the Cayman Islands

27:48

case and which he

27:50

hoped would protect him now. After

27:53

all, he wasn't the individual

27:56

doing the leaking. He

27:58

hadn't hacked into government files himself. He

28:01

was simply sharing documents that came

28:03

his way. At

28:05

least, so said his supporters.

28:09

But their numbers were dwindling.

28:13

Only a few months later,

28:15

Assange was wanted in Sweden

28:19

on charges of rape and sexual

28:21

assault. The story

28:23

spiraled through Swedish tabloids while the

28:25

Afghan war logs were still circulating

28:27

the American press. Assange

28:30

was more famous than ever, not

28:33

as a champion of transparency, but

28:36

as a criminal. Though

28:38

the rape charges were eventually thrown out,

28:41

prosecutors continued to pursue Assange

28:43

on lesser sex crimes. In

28:46

response, he fled to the UK. But

28:49

Assange wasn't going to give in to the

28:51

law without fighting back. He

28:53

kept posting leaked documents. First,

28:56

the so-called Iraqi war logs, hundreds

28:58

of thousands of classified documents about the

29:01

war in the Middle East. Then

29:04

he hit even harder. On

29:07

November 28, 2010,

29:09

WikiLeaks, in conjunction with its

29:11

mainstream media partners, published

29:13

the first of almost 260,000 US diplomatic cables.

29:20

They exposed calls by the Saudi king

29:22

for the US to attack Iran. As

29:25

well as Hillary Clinton's order for

29:27

the US State Department to spy

29:29

on the UN's leadership. Assange

29:32

intended for a slow release of documents.

29:34

He hoped to keep the world guessing

29:36

about the contents of the remaining cables,

29:39

drawing out the drama of the release.

29:43

But on December 3, the Guardian

29:45

foiled his plan. In

29:48

a horrible blunder, the

29:50

newspaper published identifying information on

29:52

all of the remaining cables.

29:55

According to Assange, they

29:57

released all the metadata, the date

29:59

of the war. of every cable,

30:01

the subject of every cable, which

30:03

embassy it was from, where it

30:05

was to, subject, date, time. If

30:08

it hadn't already, the US

30:10

government now had what it needed to

30:12

exact revenge. WikiLeaks

30:15

had repeatedly put individuals at risk,

30:18

threatened foreign relations, and

30:21

exposed national secrets. As

30:23

Hillary Clinton put it, this disclosure is

30:26

not just an attack on America, it

30:29

is an attack on the international

30:31

community. There is

30:33

nothing laudable about endangering innocent

30:35

people, and there

30:37

is nothing brave about

30:39

sabotaging peaceful relations between

30:41

nations. Julian

30:43

Assange had secured his place

30:46

on the list of enemies of

30:49

the United States. In

30:55

their quest for transparency and

30:58

justice, WikiLeaks and

31:00

the Guardian endangered innocent

31:02

government employees. And

31:05

now in late 2010, there

31:07

would be consequences. Some

31:10

of WikiLeaks' biggest supporters vanished

31:12

overnight. Amazon, which

31:15

had been hosting WikiLeaks, disconnected

31:17

their servers. PayPal

31:19

suspended the account WikiLeaks used

31:21

to receive donations, MasterCard,

31:23

and Visa stopped payments as

31:26

well. The world

31:28

had turned on Assange, and

31:30

his pursuers were closing in. Sweden

31:33

requested Interpol issue a red

31:35

alert for Assange's arrest. In

31:38

his pursuit of transparency, he had

31:41

set the world ablaze. On

31:45

December 8, Assange turned himself

31:47

into UK law enforcement. They

31:50

held him in prison while pending an

31:52

extradition hearing, and on

31:54

December 20, they released him on bail.

31:57

Assange's supporters around the world

31:59

dwindled. In my loyal, had raised

32:01

more than two hundred and forty

32:03

thousand pounds to pay for his

32:05

freedom Sounds was placed under house

32:07

arrest at a friend's estate in

32:10

the English countryside while his lawyers

32:12

fought against his extradition. He

32:14

fervently worked with his collaborators to

32:16

keep Wiki leaks up and running

32:18

while striving to keep himself in

32:21

the public eye. Framing Sweden's charges

32:23

as a trumped up way to

32:25

end his mission again states secrecy.

32:29

But. He was worried about the legal

32:31

battle coming. And the

32:33

death penalty attached to the espionage

32:35

act back in the U S.

32:37

A Saunders lawyers did their best

32:39

to protect him from extradition. They

32:41

took his case all the way

32:43

to the Uk Supreme Court. But.

32:46

By June sixteenth two thousand and

32:48

twelve. The. British government officially

32:51

declared that they would be

32:53

sending the songs to Sweden.

32:56

Many. Of us sounds, his supporters

32:58

expected him to go willingly. After.

33:01

All. They. Taken his sons' at

33:03

his word when he claimed that the

33:05

Swedish charges were bunk and that the Wiki

33:07

leaks staff could keep the site running without

33:10

him. But as it turned

33:12

out, The Signs was not

33:14

willing to put his own claims to

33:16

the test. On.

33:18

June nineteenth. The Songs rented a

33:21

room in a hotel under an

33:23

assumed name. He. The

33:25

room to disguise himself. He dyed

33:27

his hair, inserted colored contact lenses

33:30

and attach clip on hearings. He

33:32

put a rock and issue to

33:34

affect his walks. And. Then

33:37

he rushed to the Ecuadorian

33:39

embassy. Where. He applied.

33:41

For asylum. It turned

33:44

out assigns had been in talks with

33:46

the Ecuadorian government for quite some time.

33:49

Ecuador has a longstanding respect

33:51

for political asylum requests, especially

33:53

when the death penalty was

33:56

possible. Perhaps. more significantly

33:58

at the time The Ecuadorian

34:00

government did not get along well with

34:03

the United States. They'd

34:05

surely appreciate an opportunity to give

34:07

the US the metaphorical middle finger.

34:10

And most importantly, Ecuador

34:12

had no extradition treaties with

34:15

the US, the UK,

34:18

or Sweden. It

34:20

was a good plan, and it seemed

34:22

to work. Ecuador

34:25

accepted Assange's application. But

34:28

the United Kingdom had no intention

34:30

of allowing it. They

34:32

informed Assange that if he stayed within

34:35

the Ecuadorian embassy, he'd be

34:37

found in violation of his bail agreement.

34:40

The 240,000 pounds his

34:42

supporters had paid would be forfeited,

34:44

and a third warrant for his arrest would

34:47

be written. Assange

34:49

understood the costs of his

34:51

asylum, and that his

34:53

fans would pay the price. But

34:56

he was no stranger to betraying

34:59

his supporters in the interest of

35:01

promoting government transparency. And

35:03

if he maintained his freedom, he

35:05

could continue working on WikiLeaks.

35:08

For Assange, it was an easy

35:10

choice. He told the UK

35:13

government he wouldn't consent

35:15

to an arrest. Scotland

35:18

Yard sent a squadron of

35:20

police officers to surround the

35:22

Ecuadorian embassy. They threatened

35:24

to raid the building if

35:26

they didn't hand Assange over.

35:28

The Ecuadorians refused. If

35:31

UK police entered the Ecuadorian embassy,

35:33

it would be a violation of

35:36

international law. Their

35:38

embassy was a sovereign territory. Tensions

35:40

brewed as the police remained outside

35:42

the building for days. The

35:45

Ecuadorian president responded with

35:47

Operation Guest, a

35:50

program to install extra security

35:52

within the embassy in

35:54

case London detectives tried to enter

35:56

the building in disguise. Then

36:00

surely does. sees ended. While.

36:03

The Uk desperately wanted to bring a

36:05

saw in. They decided it

36:07

was more important to respect the treaty

36:09

with Ecuador. But they

36:11

made it clear that have a

36:14

songs ever stepped foot on British

36:16

soil again see be. arrested immediately

36:18

to hammer in the point. London

36:20

Police kept at least one officer

36:22

stationed outside of the embassy at

36:25

all times. In an

36:27

effort to avoid prison. Doing.

36:29

A sawn sad essentially trapped himself in

36:31

a prison of his own making. While.

36:34

He was technically free. He was

36:36

confined to one buildings and within

36:38

that building had use of roughly

36:40

three hundred and thirty square feet.

36:44

But. He could keep

36:46

working. And. So

36:48

he did for years. Coordinating.

36:51

With the Wiki Leaks team

36:53

assigns published hundreds of thousands

36:55

of leaked government documents. Still

36:58

a continued feeling insecure or

37:00

he ran white noise machines

37:02

at all hours to conceal

37:05

his conversations. He. Had

37:07

friends and coworkers orders food

37:09

under aliases. And. He never

37:11

let them orders and the same restaurant

37:13

voice within the same month. This way,

37:15

no one could poison them. Songs

37:18

wasn't worried about being assassinated, but

37:20

he did worry about getting so

37:22

sick he'd be rushed to a

37:25

Uk hospital where he be arrested.

37:28

A Saunders fears were valid. He

37:30

was being spied on. By

37:33

the Ecuadorians. They. Logged

37:35

all those visitors their identities,

37:38

purpose for visiting country of

37:40

origin and so on. They

37:42

watch the streets, The even

37:44

noted a Saunders sleep schedule,

37:47

work habits and daily routines,

37:49

closely tracking any changes like

37:51

his minor medical problems. Assigns

37:54

fractured a tooth, injured his shoulder,

37:56

and had consistent pains in his

37:58

seat. The at any

38:00

time he reached out for a dentist

38:03

or a doctor to make a house

38:05

call, British professionals refused to see him.

38:08

Need and want to become enemies of the

38:11

state. Doing.

38:14

A sons' was the poster boy

38:16

for whistle blowing. And

38:18

now for its consequences

38:21

in his pursuit of

38:23

radical transparency. He

38:25

had elevated the truth above his

38:27

own personal interests, and now he

38:30

was paying the price. He lost

38:32

his home, his ability to travel

38:34

even is access to basic medical

38:37

care. And

38:39

he wasn't on losing yet. In.

38:44

Two thousand and sixteen. Just

38:47

before the Democratic National Convention.

38:50

Wiki. Leaks Published leaked emails from

38:52

the Dnc and Hillary Clinton staff

38:54

or John Podesta. It

38:57

looked like a targeted attack against

38:59

the Clinton campaign. Signs

39:01

also released several other leagues.

39:04

Including a dossier on Us involvement

39:06

in a war in Yemen. And.

39:09

A Detailed Expos A on the

39:11

Cia A latest technological developments in

39:13

the world of hacking. A

39:16

songs was in the same place he'd been

39:18

a twenty. Trying. To expose

39:21

the hackers who betrayed his

39:23

ideals and worked inside the

39:25

Us government's. But. This time

39:27

he had a lot more attention. People

39:30

began to suspect that assigns was

39:32

working hand in hand. With.

39:34

The Russian government. Especially

39:37

considering a Saunders source seem

39:39

to be an allegedly Russian

39:42

hacker known as goose Suffered

39:44

point. Oh. Now

39:46

more than ever before, the Us

39:48

government wanted to see a songs

39:50

tried in a court of law.

39:54

does sentiments spread to the

39:56

ecuadorian public as well over

39:58

the years Assange had

40:01

become somewhat of a national nuisance.

40:03

He behaved disrespectfully in

40:05

the embassy, skateboarding indoors,

40:07

breaking embassy property, and

40:10

treating guards poorly. Then,

40:13

he published leaked documents revealing

40:15

corruption in the

40:17

Ecuadorian government. In

40:20

the 2017 Ecuadorian presidential

40:22

election, one candidate

40:24

ran on an anti-Assange platform,

40:27

pressing to hand the national pet over

40:30

to the British government, should he be

40:32

elected. To Assange's

40:34

horror, this candidate

40:36

won. On

40:39

April 11, 2019,

40:42

British police officers were invited

40:44

into the Ecuadorian embassy, where

40:47

they cornered and handcuffed Assange. They

40:50

escorted him outside, where he

40:52

shouted to the cameras, we must

40:54

resist, you can resist. Julian

40:58

Assange had been evicted, and

41:01

now he was going to prison. Charged

41:05

with conspiracy and computer crimes,

41:08

Assange was imprisoned in Her

41:10

Majesty's prison Belmarsh. Though

41:12

the US has repeatedly demanded his

41:15

extradition, Assange's legal team fought it

41:17

every step of the way. They've

41:20

appealed to the UK courts and

41:23

the European Court of Human Rights. As

41:25

of this recording, Assange remains

41:28

in Belmarsh. His

41:30

next and possibly final appeal is

41:32

scheduled for late February, 2024. If

41:37

the appeals fail and he's extradited, Assange could

41:39

face up to 175 years in prison. Whistleblowing

41:46

carries severe consequences. The

41:50

whistleblower enters a world of chaos.

41:53

Their actions dissected and analyzed by

41:55

the government, the press, the public,

41:58

even their own friends and families. The

42:01

truth comes to light, but

42:03

it can be overshadowed by the person

42:05

sharing it, and how

42:07

they shared it. They're

42:10

subject to personal attacks and moral

42:12

scrutiny. They're forced

42:14

to reconsider if they've made the right

42:16

decision, if the truth was

42:19

worth it. To

42:21

blow the whistle is to believe the

42:23

information you're revealing is

42:25

more valuable than your own life,

42:29

an act that requires an immense amount

42:31

of courage and perhaps

42:33

a degree of hubris. You

42:36

must believe you can maintain the moral

42:38

high ground, because

42:40

once the whistle is blown, there's

42:44

no going back. Thank

42:49

you for listening. We'll be back

42:51

next week with another episode. Do

42:54

you have a personal relationship to the stories

42:56

we tell? Send a

42:58

short audio recording telling

43:01

your story to conspiracystoriesatspotify.com.

43:05

And be sure to check us out on Instagram at

43:07

the conspiracy pod. Until

43:10

next time, remember, the truth

43:12

isn't always the best story, and

43:15

the official story isn't always the truth.

43:18

Conspiracy Theories is a Spotify

43:21

podcast. This episode was written

43:23

by Natalie McKeeran and Andrew

43:25

Messer, edited by Kate Gallagher

43:27

and Maggie Admire, researched by

43:29

Bradley Klein, fact-checked by Hailey

43:31

Milliken and Laurie Segal, and

43:33

sound-designed by Alex Button. Our

43:36

head of programs, Alex.