I wish people would cut JA some slack. Not enough people know that:

"According to Australian diplomatic cables, Washington’s bid to get Assange is “unprecedented in scale and nature”. In Alexandria, Virginia, a secret grand jury has sought for almost seven years to contrive a crime for which Assange can be prosecuted. This is not easy.

The First Amendment protects publishers, journalists and whistleblowers, whether it is the editor of the New York Times or the editor of WikiLeaks. The very notion of free speech is described as America’s “ founding virtue” or, as Thomas Jefferson called it, “our currency”.

Faced with this hurdle, the US Justice Department has contrived charges of “espionage”, “conspiracy to commit espionage”, “conversion” (theft of government property), “computer fraud and abuse” (computer hacking) and general “conspiracy”. The favoured Espionage Act, which was meant to deter pacifists and conscientious objectors during World War One, has provisions for life imprisonment and the death penalty.

Assange’s ability to defend himself in such a Kafkaesque world has been severely limited by the US declaring his case a state secret. In 2015, a federal court in Washington blocked the release of all information about the “national security” investigation against WikiLeaks, because it was “active and ongoing” and would harm the “pending prosecution” of Assange. The judge, Barbara J. Rothstein, said it was necessary to show “appropriate deference to the executive in matters of national security”. This is a kangaroo court.

For Assange, his trial has been trial by media."

https://newmatilda.com/2017/05/21/getting-julian-assange-the-untold-story/

This is an interesting article from John Pilger, an old school anti-establishment journalist.

Well, Julian either let it slip or he is exploiting what others have said previously. I don't know his reputation or his political M.O. well enough to really have a hard opinion one way or the other but I'm leaning towards an accidental, maybe semi-accidental disclosure because Assange is a very serious person. I think he would be genuinely devastated to know that someone was murdered because of a leak earmarked for Wikileaks.

Credibility seems extremely important to Julian and his mission so I can't accept the argument that this is just gamemanship even though he is an exceptional gamer. He is walking a fine line trying to say a source has been murdered yet holding steadfast to the position of wikileaks never to reveal its sources. Regardless, he has insisted repeatedly that the source was not a state actor . (Though, he never clarified whether all possible intermediaries were likewise not associated with a government.)

And finally, this is evidence that the emails were a result of a leak, not a hack. In the absence of an FBI forensic inspection of D.N.C.'s computers it represents the greater weight of the evidence. At best the self serving hired gun report by D.N.C.'s expert serves as a check, not a checkmate and that should have been acknowledged by authorities and the news media.

Interview is well known, sure WL pushed chat logs specifically naming Seth as source. They have been screaming it from the rooftops, 20k reward says all you need to know.