WikiLeaks’ website meanwhile was temporarily shut down on Wednesday after the online giant Amazon dropped it from its servers. Independent Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said Amazon had acceded to his demand to stop hosting WikiLeaks. In a post to its Twitter account, WikiLeaks said, “If Amazon are so uncomfortable with the first amendment, they should get out of the business of selling books.” In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley criticized Assange for calling on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to resign over her orders for U.S. diplomats to spy on foreign officials.

P.J. Crowley: “Mr. Assange can say what he wants from wherever he is, speaking from an undisclosed location through Skype, as I believe it. There’s a metaphor there, in that he is calling for the secretary to step down at a time where he is trying to evade an active warrant by Interpol. The Secretary of State, by contrast, is in Kazakhstan engaged directly with global leaders working to solve the world’s challenges. And there’s a sharp contrast in the current activity of the two individuals.”