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Comment by zepto | Hacker News Reader

I doubt the US intends to murder him.

It might be the case right now but it came out earlier this year that the CIA was entertaining this idea in 2017. This [0] appears to be the originating story and there are corroborating accounts in many other outlets.

[0] https://news.yahoo.com/kidnapping-assassination-and-a-london...

> It might be the case right now but it came out earlier this year that the CIA was entertaining this idea in 2017.

CIA, DoD, and lots of agencies “entertain” lots of ideas, and even develop plans, for lots of things that never get close to being policy.

Planning to commit a murder or a terrorist attack is a felony that will put an individual in prison for a long time.

> Planning to commit a murder or a terrorist attack is a felony that will put an individual in prison for a long

Unless it is with other people and, more critically, at least one of the people involved goes beyond planning and takes some concrete step to advance the execution of the plan (at which point it becomes the separate crime of conspiracy), no, planning a crime, even of that seriousness, is not itself a crime.

Just writing death threat for the president online is a crime.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikram_Buddhi

No other concrete step is needed.

A threat is not the same as planning.

Planning to kill someone is not a crime. Threatening to is, even if they aren't the President.

Yes, but whether it is a murder or not is decided in court, not by you. Not all assassination are murder.

They intend, fully, to make an example out of him.

Why murder him when he's no threat to them anymore, and they can drag him through more hell for the next decade in order to show what happens when you cross the line?

They committed to letting him serve his prison term in Australia, if convicted.

I'm afraid you may have fallen for the deliberately misleading words of the supposed assurances given by the US. Here's what the Guardian[0] says of that particular claim (with my emphasis):

"and could apply, if convicted, to be transferred to a prison in Australia."

My understanding is that his application could be denied, without any recourse, by the DoJ (of whichever administration is in power at the time), and probably by the Australian government too.

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/dec/10/julian-assange...

Ah, very weasely. I imagine any prisoner can apply to be transferred to a prison in another country.

There are worse things than dying.

> I doubt the US intends to murder him.

And Epstein committed suicide. Right?

How is Epstein at all relevant? I believe the conspiracy theory is around powerful people trying to keep their secrets secret. Meaning not let the US government know their secrets so they can avoid prosecution. So the US government would want Epstein alive. Why do you think the US government is prosecuting Ghislane Maxwell right now?

Except the time they were plotting to murder him, of course.

Yes, when he was a fugitive potentially in possession of state secrets.

I’m not saying it’s ok - just that now he’s in custody it’s a little different.

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