Biden admin urged to drop Assange prosecution

Some U.S. Congressmen are gathering signatures for a bipartisan letter to president Joe Biden demanding that he terminate the ongoing prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Biden admin pressured to drop Julian Assange's case by bipartisan group of lawmakers | Post Millennial | Darian Douraghy:

October 23, 2023 - "Reps. Thomas Massie, (R-KY) and James McGovern (D-MA) are pushing for members of the House of Representatives to demand Joe Biden terminate the prosecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who[m] the US is currently attempting to extradite after he was accused of publishing sensitive national security information.

"Massie and McGovern's letter calls for their colleagues to take part in a bipartisan initiative to 'strongly encourage the Biden administration to withdraw the US extradition request currently pending against Australian publisher Julian Assange and halt all prosecutorial proceedings against him as soon as possible,' Fox News reports. 

"Assange was put into a London prison in 2019, and has since been ordered to be extradited to the US to face charges of espionage. His prosecution has been highly controversial since its beginning, with those in favor arguing he has greatly harmed American national security. Others have asserted that Assange was simply exposing inconvenient truths about the activities of the US government, and that his arrest sets a terrifyingly dangerous precedent for the rights of whistleblowers and journalists alike. 

"Massie and McGovern's letter notes that '[d]eep concerns about this case have been repeatedly expressed by international media outlets, human rights and press freedom advocates.... Last April, several Members of Congress argued to Attorney General Merrick Garland that "[e]very day that the prosecution of Julian Assange continues is another day that our own government needlessly undermines our own moral authority abroad and rolls back the freedom of the press under the First Amendment at home." One example: the Assange case has been cited by officials of the People's Republic of China to claim that the US is 'hypocritical' when it comes to support for media freedom.'

"As this is transpiring, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to meet with Biden in Washington this week and will likely discuss Assange's case, according to Fox News. Albanese has called for the US to bring the prosecution of Assange to an end more than once in recent months. An Australian government spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News that 'Mr. Assange's case has dragged on for too long and that it should be brought to a close'....

"The two congressmen have a separate letter addressed to Biden that is planned to be delivered after they receive signatures from other House lawmakers....

"This is not Massie's first rodeo; the Kentucky congressman has in the past backed bipartisan legislation to reform the Espionage Act as well as safeguard whistleblowers and journalists."

Read more: https://thepostmillennial.com/biden-admin-pressured-to-drop-julian-assanges-case-by-bipartisan-group-of-lawmakers

Why won't the U.S. drop charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange? | CBC News | July 2, 2023:

Julian Assange is a hero, not a criminal

Assange is a hero, not a crimina| Helsinki Times  | Thomas L. Knapp:

April 12, 2019 - "On April 11, the ongoing saga of journalist and transparency activist Julian Assange took a dangerous turn.  Ecuador's president, Lenin Moreno, revoked his asylum in that country's London embassy. British police immediately arrested him -- supposedly pursuant to his 'crime' of jumping bail on an invalid arrest warrant in an investigation since dropped without charges but, as they admitted shortly thereafter,  actually with the intent of turning him over to US prosecutors on bogus 'hacking' allegations.

"The US political class has been after Assange for nearly a decade.

"In 2010 WikiLeaks, the journalism/transparency service he founded, released information revealing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as State Department cables exposing -- among other things -- Hillary Clinton's attempts to have American diplomats plant bugs in the offices of their UN counterparts (Clinton, at one point, tried to raise the possibility of having him murdered for embarrassing her so).

"In 2016, WikiLeaks released Democratic National Committee emails -- provided by an as yet unidentified whistleblower -- exposing the DNC's attempts to rig the Democratic presidential primaries in Clinton's favor.

"At no point has Assange been credibly accused of a crime. He's a journalist. People provide him with information. He publishes that information. That's an activity clearly and unambiguously protected by the First Amendment. Even if Assange was a US citizen, and even if his activities had taken place in territory under US jurisdiction, there's simply no criminal case to be made against him.

"So they're manufacturing one out of whole cloth, accusing him of 'hacking' by asserting that he assisted Chelsea Manning with the technical process of getting the 2010 information to WikiLeaks.

"But once again: Assange is not a US citizen, nor at the time of his alleged actions was he anywhere that would have placed him under the jurisdiction of the United States....

"There are certainly criminal charges worth pursuing here. The US Department of Justice should appoint a special counsel to probe the Assange affair with an eye toward firing, seeking the disbarment of, and prosecuting (for violations of US Code Title 18, Sections 241, Conspiracy Against Rights, and 242, Violation of Rights Under Color of Law) the DoJ bureaucrats who hatched this malicious prosecution.

"The first step in the process, though, is for US president Donald Trump to pardon Julian Assange for all alleged violations of US law on or prior to April 11, 2019.

"Assange is a hero. Time to stop treating him like a criminal."

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

Read more: http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/columns/columns/viewpoint/16341-assange-is-a-hero-not-a-criminal.html
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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange arrested in London

Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder arrested in London - BBC News:

April 12, 2019 - "Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped. At Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday he was found guilty of failing to surrender to the court.

"He now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets. The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange, in response to allegations by the Department for Justice that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.

"He faces up to five years in US prison if convicted on the charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson said they would be fighting the extradition request....

"After his arrest, the 47-year-old Australian national was initially taken to a central London police station before appearing in court....  He pleaded not guilty to the 2012 charge of failing to surrender to the court. Finding him guilty of that charge, District Judge Michael Snow ... sent him to Southwark Crown Court for sentencing, where he faces up to 12 months in prison....

"Assange set up Wikileaks in 2006.... The organisation hit the headlines four years later when it released footage of US soldiers killing civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.... Chelsea Manning was arrested in 2010 for disclosing more than 700,000 confidential documents, videos and diplomatic cables to the anti-secrecy website [and] found guilty by a court martial in 2013 of charges including espionage. However, her jail sentence was later commuted. Manning was recently jailed for refusing to testify before an investigation into Wikileaks' role in revealing the secret files....

"The indictment against Assange, issued last year in the state of Virginia, alleges that he conspired in 2010 with Manning to access classified information on Department of Defense computers. He faces up to five years in jail.... [T]he narrowness of the charge seems intended to avoid falling foul of the US Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press.

"The Wikileaks co-founder had been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012.... Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy on Thursday by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum."

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47891737
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Some conservatives learn to love Wikileaks

How Julian Assange evolved from pariah to paragon - The Washington Post - David Weigel & Joby Warrick:

January 4, 2017 - "President-elect Donald Trump tweeted some praise on Tuesday for ... Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.... It wasn’t the first time Trump had praised WikiLeaks. During his campaign for president, Trump had gleefully highlighted emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. By October, just the mention of WikiLeaks could start a roar of applause at Trump’s rallies.

"Since then, Trump has continued praising the radical transparency group, harshly criticized by President Barack Obama and other officials for what they describe as damaging national security leaks. He has defended its founder, who has lived in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since August 2012 to avoid extradition on a rape allegation in Sweden. And Trump has been in sync with conservative media, once critical of WikiLeaks, which increasingly embraces Assange as a hero....

"Assange’s interview with Fox News was conducted by Sean Hannity, who had evolved from a critic to a frequent booster.... Hannity presented WikiLeaks in its favored terms – as a source of true, incorruptible journalism.... Hannity, who told Assange last month that he had 'done us a favor,' said Tuesday that he believes 'every word' Assange says....

"The Fox interview won other fans: Sarah Palin, who had once compared Assange to the editor of an al-Qaida magazine, apologized on Facebook and credited him with releasing 'important information that finally opened people’s eyes to democrat (sic) candidates and operatives'....

"This treatment of Assange is a stark departure from what was, until recently, a near-universal condemnation of the Australian by conservative pundits and politicians.... The releases that started in 2010 prompted calls in conservative media for Assange’s prosecution, or worse.... Jeffrey Kuhner ... suggested that the U.S. government should have him assassinated.... A column in the conservative publication National Review Online questioned why Assange wasn’t dead already – perhaps 'garroted in his hotel.' Trump himself, in one of his then-frequent calls to Fox, called WikiLeaks 'disgraceful' and added that 'there should be like death penalty or something' for its releases.

"Assange’s most fervent praise in the United States ... came from libertarians. Then-Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who ran for president in 1988, 2008 and 2012, asked in a floor speech 'which has resulted in the greatest number of deaths: lying us into war or Wikileaks revelations or the release of the Pentagon Papers?'”

"Assange ... appeared to notice where his defenders were coming from. In a 2013 discussion, ... Assange said: 'The libertarian aspect of the Republican Party is presently the only useful political voice in the U.S. Congress'."

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-julian-assange-evolved-from-pariah-to-paragon/2017/01/04/2a3ea6e6-d2b8-11e6-9cb0-54ab630851e8_story.html?utm_term=.5086f5d4f173
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Edward Snowden wins Sam Adams Award

Snowden Accepts Whistleblower Award by Ray McGovern -- Antiwar.com:

October 11, 2013 - "National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, from his asylum in Russia, accepted an award on Wednesday from a group of former US intelligence officials expressing support for his decision to divulge secrets about the NSA’s electronic surveillance of Americans and people around the globe.

"The award, named in honor of the late CIA analyst Sam Adams, was presented to Snowden at a ceremony in Moscow by previous recipients of the award bestowed by the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII). The presenters included former FBI agent Coleen Rowley, former NSA official Thomas Drake, and former Justice Department official Jesselyn Radack, now with the Government Accountability Project. (Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern also took part)....

"Coleen Rowley, the first winner of the Sam Adams Award (2002), cited some little-known history to remind Snowden that he is in good company.... She noted that in 1773, Benjamin Franklin leaked confidential information by releasing letters written by then-Lt. Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson to Thomas Whatley, an assistant to the British Prime Minister.

"The letters suggested that it was impossible for the colonists to enjoy the same rights as subjects living in England and that 'an abridgment of what are called English liberties' might be necessary. The content of the letters was so damaging to the British government that Benjamin Franklin was dismissed as colonial Postmaster General...."

Read more: http://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2013/10/10/snowden-accepts-whistleblower-award/
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There will be more 'libertarian millennials' like Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden: there will be more 'Libertarian Millennials' like him - Telegraph - Bonnie Greer:

July 3, 2013 - "Something new is revealing itself in the tale of Edward Snowden and it is coming quickly into the general consciousness. Snowden is part of the global town square, created by social media, which is effectively running politics in Brazil, Egypt, Turkey, and will do so in the West, too.

"Snowden, who spent his 30th birthday on the run, is one of a new breed I call the 'Libertarian Millennial. Apolitical, perhaps even post-political, they do what they do because they have come to their own conclusions in their own time and in their own way. 'I don’t want to live in a society that does these [surveillance] sort of things… I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded,' Snowden declares. There you have it: 'I don’t', 'I do not' and 'everything I do and say' are the key phrases here....

"It is no surprise that Snowden contributed to the 2012 presidential campaign of Ron Paul, who supports curtailing the powers of government. In his maverick stance, and that of his son, Senator Rand Paul, the young find a model for taking on the system as a personal quest. Snowden becomes, in his fight, what Millennials look up to: a charismatic individual, who by sheer power of self-belief can create support, even a movement."

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10157586/Edward-Snowden-there-will-be-more-Libertarian-Millennials-like-him.html
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Graham: libertarian youth biggest threat to national security

"Libertarian" youths face the wrath of Republicans - Times Of India- Chidinand Rhajgatta:

June 13, 2013 - "According to one account, South Carolina's Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the biggest threat US intelligence these days isn't so much Russian spies, but disaffected young men like [Edward] Snowden; Private Bradley Manning, who is accused of being behind Wikileaks; and Aaron Swartz, the activist founder of social news site Reddit who committed suicide earlier this year after the government brought charges of wire and computer fraud for illegally downloading millions of documents on him.

"'I think that there's a group of people, younger people who are not fighting the war, who are libertarians mostly, who feel like the government is the problem,' Time's national security blog quoted Graham as saying, while maintaining that, 'those who are trained to defend us are a bigger threat than those who are trying to attack us.' Graham not only wanted Snowden to be brought to justice and punished severely so that 'the next 29-year-old who thinks that they're going to be some cult figure will think twice,' but he also recommended a government unit of 'watchers watching the watchers.'"

Read more: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-13/us/39951053_1_government-aaron-swartz-senator-rand-paul
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Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA revelations

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations | World news | guardian.co.uk - Glenn Greenwald, Ewan MacAskill, and Laura Poitras:

June 9, 2013 -"The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency [NSA] for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell....

"From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. 'I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,' he said....

"In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: 'I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.'

"Despite his determination to be publicly unveiled, he repeatedly insisted that he wants to avoid the media spotlight. 'I don't want public attention because I don't want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing.'

"He does not fear the consequences of going public, he said, only that doing so will distract attention from the issues raised by his disclosures. 'I know the media likes to personalise political debates, and I know the government will demonise me.'"

"Snowden will go down in history as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world's most secretive organisations – the NSA."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance

Assange demands US end WikiLeaks ‘witch hunt’

From Ecuador’s Embassy, Julian Assange demands U.S. end WikiLeaks ‘witch hunt’ | thestar.com | David Stringer, Associated Press:

August 19, 2012 - "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange urged President Barack Obama to end a so-called 'witch hunt' against his secret-spilling website, appearing in public Sunday for the first time since he took refuge two months ago inside Ecuador’s Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex crimes allegations.

The 41-year-old Australian, who has fought for two years against efforts to send him to Sweden for questioning over alleged sexual misconduct against two women, addressed several hundred supporters and reporters as he spoke from the small balcony of Ecuador’s mission, watched by dozens of British police.

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa on Thursday granted Assange asylum and he remains out of reach of British authorities while he is inside the country’s embassy. Britain insists that if he steps outside, he will be detained and sent to Sweden, as by law it must meet the obligations of a European arrest warrant."

Read more: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1243789--from-ecuador-s-embassy-julian-assange-demands-u-s-end-wikileaks-witch-hunt
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