PRESS CONFERENCE: ASSANGE LAWYERS v. CIA, WHAT’s NEXT?

Federal Judge Allows Lawsuit Against the CIA by US Lawyers and Journalists to Move Forward Lead attorney Richard Roth of The Roth Law Firm, along with plaintiffs Margaret Ratner Kunstler, a civil rights lawyer, and media lawyer Deborah Hrbek, will hold a ZOOM press conference Friday, Dec. 22 at 1:00 pm EST to answer journalists’ questions regarding their lawsuit against the CIA for allegedly violating their Fourth Amendment rights. Journalists can RSVP to attend the event by emailing TrevorFG@. Judge John G. Koeltl of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan rejected a CIA motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by four American citizens alleging they were wrongfully spied on while visiting Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in an illicit scheme to seize the plaintiff’s electronic devices. In his 27-page decision, Koetl said: “[t]he plaintiffs’ complaint contains sufficient allegations that the CIA and [former CIA Director Mike] Pompeo, through [David] Morales and UC Global, violated their reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of their electronic devices.” The Court said that because Pompeo “in an April 2017 speech ... Pompeo ‘pledged that his office would embark upon a.‘long term’ campaign against WikiLeaks,’ ” there was sufficient reason for the case to continue Judge Koeltl’s opinion and order can be found here. () When asked about the decision, attorney Roth for the plaintiffs said: “We are thrilled that the Court rejected the CIA’s efforts to silence the Plaintiffs, who merely seek to expose the CIA’s attempt to carry out Pompeo’s vendetta against WikiLeaks.” CONTACT Trevor FitzGibbon TrevorFG@ 704-775-0487