Well that is the claim that Assange is making. The government claims he tangibly helped. That has always been the line. You can't give your source burglary tools, ask them to break into something particular and then claim you were just a reporter. You may believe the claims from the prosecution are wrong or lies, but they don't seem on their surface to be crazy

> You can't give your source burglary tools, ask them to break into something particular and then claim you were just a reporter.

Drop the analogy, what did Assange actually do to help Manning?

I’d maintain that it’s not unreasonable for a journalist to ask a leaker for documents about a particular topic.

Presumably this will be addressed at the trial, and a jury will decide whether the materialness of the assistance was criminal.

Of course, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it in the interim. My parent comment claims (through analogy) that Assange gave secret proprietary hacking tools to Manning. I don’t believe that’s remotely true.

No, sorry I think the analogy was a bit too extreme meant only to show that under some circumstances arresting him would be fine. I think according to Wikipedia the specific claim is

> The charges stem from the allegation that Assange attempted and failed to crack a password hash so that Chelsea Manning could use a different username to download classified documents and avoid detection.

Again, the disparity is what interests me. Surely Manning is at as least guilty of "hacking" as Assange. And yet ... different treatment.

In what was is there different treatment? Manning stood trial, was imprisoned, and is now free. Assange has not.

It's gonna be super neat to find out. Are you of the opinion that Assange will be eventually set free?

I'm not an expert, but if following @popehat on twitter has taught me anything, it would lead me to conclude yes.

He's charged with 18 counts, each with a 10 year maximum sentence, except 1 with a 5 year sentence. Manning faced 22 charges, including one that carried a potential death penalty, so broadly speaking Assange is facing fewer and less serious charges. If we take Manning's sentencing as a reasonable upper bound, he'd face 35 years in prison, with potential for early release. He's 50 now, so there's a chance he'd die in prison, but I'd give him better than even odds. And that's assuming what I'd argue is a worse than could be expected sentencing.

But in general the likelyhood of him facing a life sentence (or what amounts to a life sentence, 50+years) is low.