Breaking overnight, via WaPo: "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged" by the United States, "a development that could significantly advance the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and have major implications for those who publish government secrets."

Good morning. Today at 10 a.m.: After postponing his decision, a judge will rule on whether members of the Trump administration violated CNN's First Amendment rights by revoking Jim Acosta's access to the White House.

Moving the Market: Facebook's Leadership Problem — The New York Times exposé on Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg's apparent mismanagement of Facebook has put both leaders under intense scrutiny and raised questions about whether they are fit to lead the company.

• The scrutiny has become worse since Zuckerberg claimed plausible deniability about one of the most damning details in the report: the company's decision to hire an opposition research firm to undermine its competitors and critics. The claim strains credulity, while simultaneously suggesting that Facebook's leaders have lost control of their company.

• New reports show the oppo firm, which was called Definers, tried to undercut Senators who grilled Sandberg and oversaw a website that one former employee described as an “in-house fake news shop."

Fallout across the Market:

• In Washington, Sen. Amy Klobuchar wants the Justice Department to investigate whether Facebook’s hiring of the opposition research firm violated campaign finance rules. Sen. Ron Wyden accused the company of threatening democracy and encouraging anti-Semitism.

• In New York, advertisers are sounding off: This may be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” Rishad Tobaccowala, chief growth officer for the Publicis Groupe, told the Times. “Now we know Facebook will do whatever it takes to make money. They have absolutely no morals.”

• In Silicon Valley, the tech press is hammering Zuckerberg. Kara Swisher argues that even if Zuckerberg did not know about the oppo firm, "he should keep it to himself and become a leader who is responsible anyway. The buck stops at Zuck, who controls the company."

• In Menlo Park, Facebook employees are voicing frustration in anonymous posts: “Why does our company suck at having a moral compass?” one employee asked, according to a Bloomberg report. “I’m f-ing exhausted of cleaning up after [their] sloppy and careless mistakes," said another.

Facebook is circling the wagons:

• Facebook's Board, of which Zuckerberg is chair, backed the leadership: "To suggest that they knew about Russian interference and either tried to ignore it or prevent investigations ... is grossly unfair," it said in a statement.

• Facebook's top lawyer Colin Stretch is staying on to help the company deal with its numerous crises, despite announcing his intention to leave in July.

• Sheryl Sandberg said the suggestion "that we weren’t interested in knowing the truth, or we wanted to hide what we knew, or that we tried to prevent investigations, is simply untrue. The allegations saying I personally stood in the way are also just plain wrong."

• Mark Zuckerberg indicated on the press call that he would stay on as chairman and chief executive and defended his chief operating officer, saying she was “doing great work for the company.”

The Big Picture: Facebook has run away from Mark Zuckerberg, but Mark Zuckerberg won't run away from Facebook. The sheer scale of the company's problems, coupled with the negligent leadership outlined in the Times piece and displayed in yesterday's press call, would have unseated a chief executive at any other company.

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Talk of Tinseltown: Apple on Offense — Eddy Cue & Co. have signed indie film studio A24 to produce a slate of films for its forthcoming streaming service, bolstering a content portfolio that already includes projects from Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon and Oprah Winfrey.

Why it matters:

• The deal signals Apple's commitment to premium films and gives them legitimacy in the space. In just five years, A24 has made a slate of award-winning films including "Moonlight," "Ex Machina" and "Lady Bird."

• The deal is a blow to Netflix, Amazon and other competitors who have been eying deals with arthouse darlings like A24 in their pursuit of premium content, prestige and Oscars.

The Big Picture: "Game on, Netflix and Amazon," a Hollywood executive emails. "But Apple style ... only the best. Ultra premium. Pedigreed. Better than thou. Apple is Godiva. Netflix is Hershey."

The Other Big Picture: In Hollywood, "disruption" is often just another word for new players signing legacy talent.

Market Links

Susan Wojcicki's YouTube's goes global (Bloomberg)

Ted Farnsworth's MoviePass nears its end (Variety)

John Malone says studios are ripe for M&A (THR)

Dept. of Leadership: Jeff Bezos Edition — "'One day, Amazon will fail' but our job is to delay it as long as possible," via CNBC's Eugene Kim:

• "At an all-hands meeting last Thursday in Seattle, an employee asked Bezos about Amazon's future. Specifically, the questioner wanted to know what lessons Bezos has learned from the recent bankruptcies of Sears and other big retailers."

What Bezos said:

• "Amazon is not too big to fail ... In fact, I predict one day Amazon will fail. Amazon will go bankrupt. If you look at large companies, their lifespans tend to be 30-plus years, not a hundred-plus years."

• "If we start to focus on ourselves, instead of focusing on our customers, that will be the beginning of the end ... We have to try and delay that day for as long as possible."

Bonus: NYT has great photos of what Long Island City and Crystal City look like today, and almost certainly will not look like after Amazon moves in.

What's Next: The Weekend.

See you Monday.