“You make it sound like this is the first thing WikiLeaks has stolen and published. What makes this special?”
It’s copyrighted, making this theft and massive publication a huge felony and anybody who was knowingly involved in it subject to serious penalties. If, God forbid, President Trump were involved, it could be an impeachable “high crime.” Hence, he must get ahead of this and have DOJ bust its balls to catch and prosecute the perpetrator.
As for the copyright...
That was one of my first thoughts too. Then I reread WikiLeaks mission statement. "We open governments" This book's purpose is to help overthrow our duly elected government. It is a product of or assistance to the Deep State shadow government. That is what should be overthrown and giving this book to the world for free helps dilute the power of it to overthrow Trump's presidency. WikiLeaks did the right thing IMO.
WikiLeaks and Assange fall under the ‘journalist’, and ‘publisher’ labels, just like any other media outlet..
Also, they are not American, nor in America.