CIA sought UK help ‘to kill or kidnap’ Assange

THE CIA discussed kidnapping or assassinating Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, while he was holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and asked British authorities for help, former officials have claimed.

The intelligence agency was so infuriated by the publication of secretive hacking tools in 2017 that senior officials asked for “sketches” or “options” on how to kill the Australian, according to Yahoo News.

Mike Pompeo, then the CIA director under Donald Trump, “wanted vengeance on Assange”, according to one former national security official who spoke off the record.

Fearing that Russia might try to snatch him first, scenarios allegedly explored by senior officials included gun battles with Kremlin operatives on the streets of London, crashing a car into a Russian diplomatic vehicle transporting Assange and then grabbing him, and shooting out the tyres of a Russian plane carrying Assange before it could take off for Moscow.

However, no plans were approved, in part because of White House lawyers who raised concerns about the legality of a potential plot, while Yahoo claims that the UK refused to allow a rendition operation by the Americans on British soil. The reaction was prompted by the leak of documents known as Vault 7, which revealed how the CIA would hack Apple and Android mobile phones in overseas spying operations.

The agency considered the leak to be “the largest data loss in CIA history”.

Plans to kill or capture Assange intensified after reports circulated that Russia might try to extricate him from the UK and take him to Moscow.

According to a former senior counter-intelligence official: “There was a discussion with the Brits about turning the other cheek or looking the other way when a team of guys went inside and did a rendition. But the British said, ‘No way, you’re not doing that on our territory, that ain’t happening.’”

The CIA and the British embassy in Washington were contacted for comment.

Barry Pollack, Assange’s US lawyer, said the disclosure should be considered by the UK courts and “further bolster” their decision not to extradite Assange to the US.

Assange, 50, is in custody at HMP Belmarsh. Assange was in the embassy from 2012 to 2019.