Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and James McGovern (D-MA) are circulating letters in the House urging their colleagues to join them in demanding that President Biden drop the charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Fox News Digital reported on Monday.
In the letter to fellow House members, Massie and McGovern ask them to join them 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.”
Assange, who has been held in London’s Belmarsh prison since April 2019, faces up to 175 years in prison if extradited to the US and convicted for exposing US war crimes. He’s been charged under the Espionage Act for publishing classified documents he received from a source, a standard journalistic practice, meaning his conviction would have grave implications for press freedom in the US and around the world.
Back in April, seven House Democrats led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for the Justice Department to drop its pursuit of Assange. Massie and McGovern mention Tlaib’s effort in their letter that will be sent to President Biden once signatures are collected.
“Last April, several Members of Congress argued to Attorney General Merrick Garland that ‘every 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.'” the Massie-McGovern letter reads.
The bipartisan effort comes as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Washington and is expected to push for an end to the persecution of Assange, who is an Australian citizen. The Australian government has stepped up its lobbying efforts to secure Assange’s freedom in recent months. In September, a cross-party delegation of Australian members of parliament visited Washington to press the issue.
The Massie-McGovern letter warns of the danger to press freedoms that comes with the pursuit of Assange. “It is the duty of journalists to seek out sources, including documentary evidence, in order to report to the public on the activities of government,” the letter reads. “The United States must not pursue an unnecessary prosecution that risks criminalizing common journalistic practices and thus chilling the work of the free press. We urge you to ensure that this case be brought to a close in as timely a manner as possible.”
We live in a country, where Freedom of The Press, is essential to EACH and EVERYONE one of US! Assange should be free and ALL of us should be appreciative of the efforts and sacrifices he has made!
I would be willing to bet that the women he sexually assaulted in Sweden don’t appreciate his efforts. Lucky for him the charges timed out as he hid like a coward in the Ecuador embassy. And now he is trying to avoid accountability again, this time hiding behind the “freedom of press” shield.
And this notion that one can publish any information if they get it from a source is non sense. Would it be OK to publish everyone’s social security number as long as you got it from a source? Or how about the design for a Hydrogen bomb that a source gave you? No a press members has responsibilities. Let him defend himself is a US court. Let the jury decide if he went too far and tock advantage of the freedom of press.
It’s not nice to lie about global heroes like Julian Assange.
And why should someone who has never been to the US and whose activities, even if they were as alleged, never brought him under US jurisdiction, have to defend himself in a US court?
Clinton fan?
Not even a little, why?
No, I meant the commenter you responded to. In general that’s who seems to want to punish Assange. Because if not for him the coronation would have gone on as planned /s.
Oh, and Putin too of course. Because she wasn’t a bad candidate/s.
She was such a BAD CANDIDATE! …Well… HOW BAD WAS SHE??? She was soooo BAD, that after she gave speeches at campaign rallies, her approval rating WENT DOWN! This is exactly why toward the end, she stopped campaigning and ran on “VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO” against Trump!
I think it was worse than that. She only wanted to campaign where the money was and took for granted that she was entitled to the position.
Wasn’t her campaign slogan truly narcissistic like “I’m with her”?
Exactly. Listen, I think NOBODY ever is worse than “her.” But, you already knew I was a “deplorable,” right? I’m just frolicking here in my basket with the rest of you “deplorables.” IF you are reading antiwar. com, you are in the same basket. Unless you work for “the Deep State,” and sent here to track and discredit us. In other words, unless “you’re with her.” (Sarcasm)
I didn’t vote for either. I knew too much about Trump from growing up in NYC metro. I understand the anger that drove people to him after the spectacular failure of “ hope and change” actually being same ol’, but I knew how Trump was cooking books on his real estate development projects when the city wasn’t in the greatest shape and how he stiffed people in the trades after doing work for him.
And the irony is that he was close with the Clintons with Bill encouraging him to run.
I do agree with him that NATO should be disbanded and that Biden is corrupt. In fact, he’s right about the whole swamp narrative, but then decided to dive in for a swim while there. But I don’t think he was the worst and I do see the number and level of charges as a political hitjob.
All of our Presidents have been corrupt in one fashion or another. All of them.
It shows in the extreme wealth after office
She was such a bad candidate and ran such a terrible campaign that she lost to Donald Trump. That’s a major achievement.
Hillary is astonishingly unlikable.
And seven years later, it’s still excuse after excuse — it has to be someone else’s fault that she lost, it can never be hers.
I have news for you, Thomas. Safe sex in Sweden is under US jurisdiction. Answer this question: Why doesn’t he like condoms? …No. We’re not upset that he released, “Collateral Damage.” We’re not against journalism. All we’re saying is he can’t be a “responsible journalist” if he doesn’t like condoms. Read all about it in the “Rules Based Order.” (Sarcasm)
Sweden dropped the charges. Insufficient evidence. Get up to speed.
Actually, there never were any charges. Swedish prosecutors, fairly likely in cahoots with the US, wanted to question him in a “preliminary investigation.”
And inisted on the “investigation” even after the alleged victims recanted. And turned down the opportunity to question him in the UK over and over for years, insisting that HE had to come to THEM — even issuing a fraudulent Interpol arrest warrant to try to get him in their clutches. His fear that they were just trying to grab him to hand him over to the US regime was entirely understandable.
Yup, all true. And despicable.
So, let’s see, the NYT, Guardian, Salon, Slate, probably this site, numerous independents, WSJ, etc etc should all be held in solitary for publishing the same info right?
The public should never know about war crimes committed or rigged elections snd whatnot. Keep ‘em dumb. I mean they’re only paying for most of it, but it’s none of their business.
Do you live in the US, Tim? If you do, you should sign up for a remedial class on basic constitutional law and the history of First Amendment jurisprudence. Because your misunderstanding of the fundamentals is deplorable.
Too little and too late. The US has already tortured Julian Assange into being the return of Jesus Christ.
I think he still would like to breathe some fresh air.
Fat chance Fat head will heed their advice, it’s the NeoCon playbook. Make trouble for everyone but bosom buddies. As if we don”t have enough trouble ready…!!!! Not to mention the $33 trillion debt.
I agree with everything here excepting the notion that press freedoms are threatened. Our press is already in the tank with our oligarchs. Further damage would be virtually unnoticeable. Journalism, with notable individual exceptions, is moribund.
Yeah, but the notable exceptions are crucial.
US Government & NewsGuard Sued by Consortium News
October 23, 2023
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The suit accuses NewsGuard of defaming Consortium News and the U.S. government of acting in concert with NewsGuard to violate the First Amendment. Read about it and watch the news conference.
Consortium News‘s court filing charges the Pentagon’s Cyber Command, an element of the Intelligence Community, with contracting with NewsGuard to identify, report and abridge the speech of American media organizations that dissent from U.S. official positions on foreign policy.
In the course of its contract with the Pentagon, NewsGuard is “acting jointly or in concert with the United States to coerce news organizations to alter viewpoints” as to Ukraine, Russia, and Syria, imposing a form of “censorship and repression of views” that differ or dissent from policies of the United States and its allies, the complaint says.
“The First Amendment rights of all American media are threatened by this arrangement with the Defense Department to defame and abridge the speech of U.S. media groups,” said Bruce Afran, Consortium News‘s attorney.
“When media groups are condemned by the government as ‘anti-U.S.’ and are accused of publishing ‘false content’ because they disagree with U.S. policies, the result is self-censorship and a destruction of the public debate intended by the First Amendment,” Afran said.
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/23/us-government-newsguard-sued-by-consortium-news/
There is no legal foundation. Assange is not a citizen of the U.S.. He is not, nor has Assange been in the employ of any government in the U.S., whether State of Federal.