On Thursday morning, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that was obtained March 8, 2018. (It has been under seal since then, although its existence was revealed accidentally late last year.) The indictment includes one criminal count: conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

What does that actually mean? What is Assange alleged to have done? Allow us.

…

In July 2018, we spoke by phone with Robert Weisberg, a Stanford law professor, about criminal conspiracy charges. (The context was the overlap between “conspiracy” and “collusion.”)

“Conspiracy is an agreement to do a crime plus some overt act in that direction. It’s really that simple,” he explained. A crime doesn’t need to be committed, he noted, just an agreement to try to commit a crime and making an overt attempt to commit it.

…

“You can punish the agreement and the overt act even if no one comes very, very close to committing the crime,” Weisberg said.

…

In July 2018, we spoke by phone with Robert Weisberg, a Stanford law professor, about criminal conspiracy charges. (The context was the overlap between “conspiracy” and “collusion.”)

“Conspiracy is an agreement to do a crime plus some overt act in that direction. It’s really that simple,” he explained. A crime doesn’t need to be committed, he noted, just an agreement to try to commit a crime and making an overt attempt to commit it.