Washington (CNN) US authorities have prepared charges to seek the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, US officials familiar with the matter tell CNN. 
 
 The Justice Department investigation of Assange and WikiLeaks dates to at least 2010, when the site first gained wide attention for posting thousands of files stolen by the former US Army intelligence analyst now known as Chelsea Manning 
 
 Prosecutors have struggled with whether the First Amendment precluded the prosecution of Assange, but now believe they have found a way to move forward. 
 
 During President Barack Obama's administration, Attorney General Eric Holder and officials at the Justice Department determined it would be difficult to bring charges against Assange because WikiLeaks wasn't alone in publishing documents stolen by Manning. Several newspapers, including The New York Times, did as well. The investigation continued, but any possible charges were put on hold, according to US officials involved in the process then. 
 
 Going after Assange 
 
 The US view of WikiLeaks and Assange began to change after investigators found what they believe was proof that WikiLeaks played an active role in helping Edward Snowden, a former NSA analyst, disclose a massive cache of classified documents. 
 
 Assange remains holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London , seeking to avoid an arrest warrant on rape allegations in Sweden . In recent months, US officials had focused on the possibility that a new government in Ecuador would expel Assange and he could be arrested. But the left-leaning presidential candidate who won the recent election in the South American nation has promised to continue to harbor Assange. 
 
 Last week in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, CIA Director Mike Pompeo went further than any US government official in describing a role by WikiLeaks that went beyond First Amendment activity 
 
 He said WikiLeaks "directed Chelsea Manning to intercept specific secret information, and it overwhelmingly focuses on the United States." 
 
 "It's time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: A non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia," Pompeo said. 
 
 US intelligence agencies have also determined that Russian intelligence used WikiLeaks to publish emails aimed at undermining the campaign of Hillary Clinton, as part of a broader operation to meddle in the US 2016 presidential election. Hackers working for Russian intelligence agencies stole thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee and officials in the Clinton campaign and used intermediaries to pass along the documents to WikiLeaks, according to a public assessment by US intelligence agencies. 
 
 Still, the move could be viewed as political, since Assange is untouchable as long as he remains in the Ecuadorian embassy, and Ecuador has not changed its stance on Assange's extradition. 
 
 Stepping up efforts 
 
 Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a news conference Thursday that Assange's arrest is a "priority." 
 
 "We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks," he said. "This is a matter that's gone beyond anything I'm aware of. We have professionals that have been in the security business of the United States for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks and some of them are quite serious. So yes, it is a priority. We've already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail." 
 
 "We've had no communication with the Department of Justice and they have not indicated to me that they have brought any charges against Mr. Assange," said Assange's lawyer, Barry Pollack. "They've been unwilling to have any discussion at all, despite our repeated requests, that they let us know what Mr. Assange's status is in any pending investigations. There's no reason why WikiLeaks should be treated differently from any other publisher." 
 
 Pollack said WikiLeaks is just like the Washington Post and the New York Times, which routinely publish stories based on classified information. WikiLeaks, he says, publishes information that is in "the public's interest to know not just about the United States but other governments around the world." 
 
 Freedom of speech? 
 
 Assange has also compared WikiLeaks to a news media organization that uses documents provided by whistleblowers to expose the actions of governments and powerful corporations. 
 
 "Quite simply, our motive is identical to that claimed by the New York Times and The Post -- to publish newsworthy content," Assange wrote in a recent op-ed in The Washington Post . "Consistent with the U.S. Constitution, we publish material that we can confirm to be true irrespective of whether sources came by that truth legally or have the right to release it to the media. And we strive to mitigate legitimate concerns, for example by using redaction to protect the identities of at-risk intelligence agents." 
 
 In his speech last week, Pompeo rejected that characterization and said Assange should not be afforded constitutional free speech protections. 
 
 "Julian Assange has no First Amendment freedoms. He's sitting in an Embassy in London. He's not a US citizen," Pompeo said. 
 
 Rep. Peter King, R-New York, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that based on CNN's reporting, "I'm glad that the Justice Department has found a way to go after Assange. He's gotten a free ride for too long." 
 
 King said Assange has "caused tremendous damage to our national security, put American lives at risk." 
 
 But Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, argued that US prosecution of Assange sets a dangerous precedent. 
 
 "Never in the history of this country has a publisher been prosecuted for presenting truthful information to the public," Wizner told CNN. "Any prosecution of WikiLeaks for publishing government secrets would set a dangerous precedent that the Trump administration would surely use to target other news organizations." 
 
 CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correctly describe the allegations against Assange in Sweden and clarify Pompeo's comment about free speech protections. ||||| Justice department ‘stepping up’ efforts to prosecute WikiLeaks founder as CNN reports that charges have been drawn up 
 
 The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is now a “priority” for the US, the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has said. 
 
 Hours later it was reported by CNN that authorities have prepared charges against Assange, who is currently holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. 
 
 Donald Trump lavished praise on the anti-secrecy website during the presidential election campaign – “I love WikiLeaks,” he once told a rally – but his administration has struck a different tone. 
 
 WikiLeaks praised by Sean Hannity and David Duke after Clinton revelations Read more 
 
 Asked whether it was a priority for the justice department to arrest Assange “once and for all”, Sessions told a press conference in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday: “We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks. This is a matter that’s gone beyond anything I’m aware of. We have professionals that have been in the security business of the United States for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks and some of them are quite serious.” 
 
 He added: “So yes, it is a priority. We’ve already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail.” 
 
 Citing unnamed officials, CNN reported that prosecutors have struggled with whether the Australian is protected from prosecution by the first amendment, but now believe they have found a path forward. A spokesman for the justice department declined to comment. 
 
 Barry Pollack, Assange’s lawyer, denied any knowledge of imminent prosecution. “We’ve had no communication with the Department of Justice and they have not indicated to me that they have brought any charges against Mr Assange,” he told CNN. “They’ve been unwilling to have any discussion at all, despite our repeated requests, that they let us know what Mr Assange’s status is in any pending investigations. There’s no reason why WikiLeaks should be treated differently from any other publisher.” 
 
 US authorities has been investigating Assange and WikiLeaks since at least 2010 when it released, in cooperation with publications including the Guardian, more than a quarter of a million classified cables from US embassies leaked by US army whistleblower Chelsea Manning. 
 
 Republican politicians expressed fury at the time, accusing Assange of treason, and Trump himself told an interviewer: “I think it’s disgraceful, I think there should be like death penalty or something.” 
 
 All that changed during the election when WikiLeaks published emails acquired via Russian-backed hackers from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Trump and his associates seized on the revelations, citing them with relish during speeches, prompting accusations of cynical opportunism. 
 
 Now in power, their attitude seems to have reverted to Republican orthodoxy. In a speech last week in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, the CIA director, Mike Pompeo, said: “It’s time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.” 
 
 He added: “Julian Assange has no first amendment freedoms. He’s sitting in an embassy in London. He’s not a US citizen.” 
 
 But US authorities cannot touch Assange while he remains in the Ecuadorian embassy in Britain, seeking to avoid an arrest warrant on rape allegations in Sweden. Socialist candidate Lenin Moreno, who won the recent election in Ecuador, has promised not to extradite Assange.
– The Justice Department has long viewed Julian Assange as a menace, but it might soon officially view him as a criminal. Federal prosecutors are preparing criminal charges against the WikiLeaks founder in order to seek his arrest, reports CNN. The possibilities range from the most serious one of espionage to lesser ones such as theft of government property, reports the Washington Post. Top officials such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions must still sign off on any charges, and that hasn't happened yet. The Obama White House also considered criminal charges against Assange after his group published classified information obtained by Chelsea Manning, but ultimately decided against it on freedom-of-the-press grounds. But now prosecutors think they can make the case that Assange went beyond the role of mere publisher. That argument hinges on something that came up during Manning's court martial, notes the Post: the revelation that Manning and Assange chatted about a password-cracking technique. "I think their only realistic hope is some conspiracy charge based on WikiLeaks' involvement in the actual hacking, not just publishing the results of the hacking," says a former Justice Department official. Another potential avenue to criminal charges is WikiLeaks' alleged role in the hacking of US spy tools. On Thursday, Sessions said making arrests of leakers such as Assange is a "priority," reports the Guardian. That follows CIA chief Mike Pompeo's blistering criticism. Assange, meanwhile, remains holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, and he recently wrote an op-ed in the Post arguing that WikiLeaks deserves the same protections as newspapers.