Welcome to Pushback. I'm Erin Mate.

The CIA's spying operation against Julian Assange was revealed publicly last year.

But now an explosive new report from the Grey Zones Max Blumenthal fills in critical new details.

The report is called the American Friends New Court Files Expose Sheldon

Adelson security team in U.S. spy operation against Julian Assange. Max Blumenthal joins me now,

editor of the Gray Zone and author of the Management of Savagery. Max, let's start with the title.

How does Sheldon Adelson security team become involved in this spying operation against Assange?

Well, this is a complicated story.

I was working with files that have been basically company files of a Spanish mercenary firm

that were exposed or revealed in a Spanish high court case

which I'll describe in a second along with witness testimony testimony by

protected witnesses who worked for the company who are involved in this

operation

interviews with people who were spied on and a lot of research and it took me a lot of time to

work my way through this and put together a really cohesive story so I'll try to do my best

to describe to viewers and listeners as clearly as possible what took place.

The story begins actually before Donald Trump was in office sometime in 2016, either July

or February, when a Spanish security consultant who runs a small-time mercenary firm in southern Spain in

Jerez named David Morales, who imagined himself as the next Eric Prince and wanted to

establish a global army for hire that could leverage political connections into international

power. He heads off to a security fair in Las Vegas.

I mean, Las Vegas is where all the conventions are held. They're often held at the Sands Expo,

...