Rumors and speculation have been swirling on Twitter after misleading reports were published claiming that Julian Assange has left the Ecuadorian Embassy — the Gateway Pundit can confirm that these reports are false.

A WikiLeaks legal source close to Julian Assange told the Gateway Pundit on Tuesday morning that not only are these claims false, but the political persecution of WikiLeaks has ramped up substantially.

“It’s false and the actions of the US State Department, Department of Justice and the CIA against WikiLeaks have substantially increased, not decreased, in recent weeks,” the source told Gateway Pundit.

Earlier in the day, we had called the Ecuadorian Embassy to ask them about his status, but they would neither confirm nor deny if he remained in the building. An additional source close to WikiLeaks told the Gateway Pundit that this doesn’t mean anything and the embassy never comments on any matters related to Assange without prior approval.

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On January 4, however, following Assange sending out a cryptic tweet that included a hash and the M.I.A. song Paper Planes, the embassy had confirmed to RT that his status remained unchanged.

While people spreading the rumors and speculation that Assange has been pardoned, is about to be pardoned, or has actually left the embassy likely mean well — their theories and claims can be more damaging than helpful.

Last week, Christine Assange, a brilliant and outspoken activist in her own right, appeared on Randy Credico’s collaboration between Flashpoints and his show Live on the Fly as part of his second season of the series Julian Assange: Countdown to Freedom, on KPFA Radio.

During the interview, she pleaded with new followers of WikiLeaks, who may be unfamiliar with what she called “black propaganda” from the deep state, to stop spreading conspiracy theories regarding her son.

“I would like to have a little talk with the new WikiLeaks supporters. Those who have been around for a long time know that Julian and WikiLeaks come under significant attacks and black propaganda from time to time to destabilize them. The last one was when Julian’s Twitter account went down with some sort of glitch,” she explained.

False reports about the status of Assange effect their donations, as they slow when people think he has been moved to safety. They also impact sources feeling secure in providing their information to the organization.

“All of a sudden, out comes all these twitchy anti-WikiLeaks trolls — all over WikiLeaks’ feed saying that Julian has been compromised, that he’s been taken over by the CIA and WikiLeaks can’t be trusted and so you shouldn’t fund them anymore. I would ask the new WikiLeaks supporters not to buy into this. You may have your concerns, of course we all do, because we all love Julian and want to defend and protect him — but WikiLeaks is actually at war,” Assange asserted. “The US State Department and the Deep State have declared war on WikiLeaks.

Sources close to WikiLeaks have previously told me that they believe these lies, disguised by those who start them as concern, are designed to sow public distrust with the organization.

“I would ask the new WikiLeaks supporters to just hold the line, just wait until you hear from WikiLeaks. If anything happens to my son, don’t you worry, I will be out there screaming from the rooftops,” she said. “His friends, his colleagues, his lawyers — we will all let you know if anything has gone wrong. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Assange entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on June 19, 2012, where he applied and was granted political asylum. Since that time, the building has been encircled by police waiting on standby to arrest him. Many fear that should he be arrested in London, he would be extradited to the United States where he would face harsh penalties for practicing journalism.

In 2016, after 16 months of investigation, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) concluded that Julian Assange is the victim of arbitrary detention. Not only did the group, made up of lawyers and human rights professionals, release an opinion that Assange should be released, they reported that he should be compensated by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom for “deprivation of liberty.”