WikiLeaks 'Important Focus' of FBI Attention - Director Comey

WikiLeaks is an important focus of the FBI's attention, the bureau's chief said.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — WikiLeaks is the subject of attention from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over its publishing activities, FBI Director James Comey testified at a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.

"WikiLeaks is an important focus of our attention," Comey stated.

Comey said WikiLeaks crossed the line between First Amendment-protected speech into publishing activities of classified sources and methods that are intended to harm the United States.

"There’s nothing that even smells [like journalism] about some of this conduct," Comey told the Judiciary Committee.

US attention on WikiLeaks was renewed last year after the website began publishing thousands of emails stolen from the account of John Podesta, the chairman of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Last month, CNN reported the Justice Department was prepared to formally file charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for the 2010 leak of confidential documents and a recent release of secret CIA information.

Assange remains in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been since 2012 after being granted political asylum by Ecuador.