Some U.S. officials have accused Julian Assange of acting as a tool of Russian intelligence in connection with the election-related disclosures. | Jack Taylor/Getty Images Legal Judge delays decision on unsealing Assange charges The government inadvertently revealed potential charges against the WikiLeaks head earlier this month, but is fighting to keep the information private.

A federal judge has postponed a decision on whether to unseal criminal charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that the government appears to have inadvertently revealed earlier this year.

After the error was publicized earlier this month, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press petitioned a federal court in Alexandria, Va., to make any charges against Assange public. The press freedom group argued that there was no valid reason to keep the official charges under seal in light of the government’s disclosure.


At a hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema issued no immediate ruling on the request, according to court records.

In a court filing Monday, prosecutors refused to confirm or deny whether any charges have been brought against Assange, whose organization has posted online hundreds of thousands of government records as well as emails hacked from Democratic Party accounts during the 2016 presidential election.

“An erroneous prior filing and press reports do not justify requiring the government to disclose additional information,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg wrote in the Monday filing.

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“While the government has admitted that the aforementioned court filing was made in error, it has not confirmed or denied whether charges against Julian Assange exist, which is what the plaintiff seeks to learn through its application," Kromberg added. "Neither the First Amendment nor the common law require that the government provide such a confirmation or denial.”

Some U.S. officials have accused Assange of acting as a tool of Russian intelligence in connection with the election-related disclosures. However, it’s unclear whether the potential charges against Assange focus on those episodes or others.

During the hearing, Brinkema gave the First Amendment advocates a week to identify any similar instances where a judge overrode the government’s objections and ordered disclosure of criminal charges against a defendant who had not been arrested, said Katie Townsend, legal director at the Reporters Committee.

Townsend told POLITICO that the judge "seems to be giving the application careful consideration, but did indicate at the end of the hearing that she thinks, in general, that the government has a compelling interest in keeping charging documents under seal pending an arrest."

She added: "This is not the ordinary case, of course, since the individual who has been charged now knows he has been charged, but it is unclear whether that will carry the day."

During the hearing, Brinkema, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, summed up the unusual nature of the case: “This is an interesting case, to say the least,” she said, according to the Associated Press.

Disclosure: The author of this report serves on a Reporters Committee oversight board.