Ecuador president calls WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange an 'inherited problem'

The president of Ecuador Lenin Moreno has described WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as an "inherited problem" that has created "more than a nuisance" for his government.
"We hope to have a positive result in the short term," Moreno said in an interview with television networks.

Ecuador granted citizenship to Assange earlier this month in an unsuccessful attempt to provide him with diplomatic immunity and usher him out of its London embassy without the threat of arrest by Britain. 

WikiLeaks had disclosed emails that led to embarrassing media coverage for Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton. U.S. intelligence agencies believe Russian military intelligence used WikiLeaks and other sites to release the emails it hacked from the Democratic National Committee and top Democrats. Assange said he does not know the source of the emails.

Assange faces both criminal and congressional investigations in the United States.

There is no evidence at this point that U.S. authorities have filed any charges against him, including secret charges, but CIA Director Mike Pompeo last year called WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence service.”  

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, responding to a reporter’s question in April about whether arresting Assange was a priority, said it was.

“Whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail,” Sessions said at a press briefing.

(With inputs from Reuters)