Daniel Ellsberg talked to us about leaking in the age of Trump

Originally published: VICE News Tonight on HBO on August 3, 2017 by David Noriega (more by VICE News Tonight on HBO) (Posted Aug 12, 2017)

The Trump administration is determined to bust leakers, both in the White House and across U.S. intelligence agencies, who it feels continue to undermine and humiliate the president.

The recent detention of Reality Leigh Winner, who is currently being prosecuted under the Espionage Act, has political activists concerned that leakers risk more today than they ever have.

The first American ever charged under the Espionage Act for releasing information to the press was Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst who, in 1971, leaked a top-secret indictment of the war in Vietnam known as the Pentagon Papers.

Ellsberg narrowly escaped conviction and became an anti-war activist. VICE News visited him at his home in California to talk about leaking in the age of Trump.

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