This is the ultimate evidence that there is no such thing as a free press; People are only allowed to report what their masters allow them to. The day you cross a line and in Assange's case, the day you report the crimes commited by The Empire, they crush you.
US generally doesn't persecute it's citizens for reporting. See Pentagon papers.
Assange is not US citizen. Guantanamo bay detainees weren't US citizens. They are free targets.
>allegations that in 2010, Assange offered to help Manning, the Army intelligence analyst, crack a password to break into a classified U.S. government network, an act that would have gone beyond journalism.
People report crimes committed by the empire all the time without difficulties. Here's a wikipedia with some for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes