A bipartisan group of 16 members of Congress has called on President Biden to drop the case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, warning of the grave threats to press freedom if he is convicted.
The lawmakers made the call in a letter sent to President Biden on Wednesday. The effort was led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and James McGovern (D-MA), who began circulating the letter to their colleagues for signatures last month.
“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, according to a press release from Assange Defense.
“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,” the letter states.
The letter was also signed by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Greg Casar (D-TX), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Cori Bush (D-MO), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Eric Burlison (R-MO), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Jesús García (D-IL), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Matthew Rosendale (R-MT), and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
The letter comes as the Biden administration has been under pressure from the Australian government to free Assange, who is an Australian citizen. In September, a delegation of Australian members of parliament from across the political spectrum visited Washington and met with US officials to lobby for Assange. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese brought up the case with President Biden when he visited the White House in October.
Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if extradited to the US and convicted for exposing US war crimes. The charges stem from documents published by WikiLeaks that Assange obtained from his source, former Army Private Chelsea Manning, a standard journalistic practice. Assange has been held in London’s Belmarsh Prison since April 2019 as his legal team is fighting against US efforts to extradite him.
They should. The war crimes are right out in the open these days.
Free Assange!
Slow Joe will not drop the case.
Slo Joe will be fighting for his political life on 24 ….. Everything he does blows up in his face….Any fool can see he is dragging us down!
Free Assange!
Truth in Media and FREEDOM OF SPEECH!
If i could up vote you more i would.
🙂
Gimme some of that stuff you’re smoking. I would like to see those two whales you are talking about, swimming together in the sky.
16 of 535 … how pathetic is that? Even libertarian Mike Lee couldn’t bring himself to sign this–only Rand Paul from the Senate?! Thomas Massie has certainly been on the right side of history in several recent votes–I’ll give him that!
Yup. And notice the people on the list are the MSM’s target list on this and other issues.
Btw, the so-called “Freedom Caucus” does not seem well-represented here …
Paul/Massie 2024.
Yes … but more likely to get Haley/Christie …
No Trump?
I would like to think that one of his court cases will kill him.
We could end up with Biden again or Nukey Haley.
And no. That’s not a typo.
The citizens of America badly need a totally new breed of elected officials. The ones we have now are not worth shit.
The fraud case. If he is correct in his calculating, Mr. Cohen believes the cost to Mr. Trump will be in the order of $600-700 million. Banks will come after his sorry *ss. Melania better act quick.
So you support political prosecutions? Just wait until it happens to someone you support, because that’s definitely coming.
They’re political prosecutions only because the others got away with similar shit before. Normal citizens would be doing time. Saying they should continue getting away with crimes because no one else ever gets prosecuted for doing equally nefarious shit is ass backwards.
They’re political prosecutions because they’re being done for the purpose of keeping Trump from running for office, just like they did to Lula in Brazil several years ago. Whether others have gotten away with doing the same things is irrelevant to this analysis.
We agree that Trump is a vile pig and should be in prison, along with most of his family for that matter. I have a lot of problems with Trump. However, if you consider the far more serious crimes, like war- and human rights crimes crimes, that other presidents have committed, it’s laughable that these crimes are so serious that they demand prosecution. I was all for prosecuting Trump for these financial crimes before he ran for president, but now it’s being done for political reasons. Trump should also have been prosecuted for ripping off his workers by not paying them, again well before he ran for office. The a-holes who are prosecuting him now were fine with that then, but now they’re not because they don’t want him in the White House.
Except that prosecution, or even conviction, can’t stop anyone from running for president of the United States.
You keep saying that, but that’s not my understanding. Can you point to the statute or constitutional provision that would resolve this?
Yes: Article II of the Constitution, which lists the qualifications for the office of president. That list is exclusive and exhaustive. You must be 35, a natural born citizen, and resident in the US for 14 years. That’s it and that’s all.
At least two candidates — Eugene Debs and Lyndon LaRouche have run for president not just after felony convictions but from prison.
Same with Congress. My wife once ran in a US Senate primary against a convicted murderer.
Again, I don’t disagree that they’re political prosecutions. So yes, in the analysis that they’re being done to keep him out of office, you are correct. It’s just that I don’t care if they are. Now, if he were innocent, that would be a different matter. If the statute of limitations hasn’t run out, he should be prosecuted. No one is above the law and for whatever reason they are brought to justice is fine with me.
That’s where we disagree. I prioritize the political prosecution issue, because it’s simply more important. Prosecuting Trump for this crap is like kicking Nixon out of the White House for Watergate, when he killed so many in Vietnam and poisoned the country with things like agent orange, but didn’t get prosecuted for any of that. Those kinds of crimes are far worse than anything Trump is accused of doing.
It is more important. But only when it happens to men of principle and integrity. Trump, and Nixon, had neither. And for what passes as politicians in our country today, I really can’t see anyone who I’d defend. Not saying it’s right. Maybe it’s a form of Karma.
And yet the clock was run down on more serious charges against Hunter Biden. And since the msm is all in for Biden, I think the gov’t is in deep cover up of his actions in Ukraine. Even the time the classified docs were discovered isn’t getting any play:
https://jonathanturley.org/2023/10/16/new-evidence-may-destroy-bidens-defense-in-his-classified-documents-case/
I never supported Trump, still don’t, but going after him has been excessive and political. And once you consent to that type of thing, it sets precedent.
They’re political prosecutions because they’re being done for the purpose of keeping Trump from running for office, just like they did to Lula in Brazil several years ago. Whether others have gotten away with doing the same things is irrelevant to this analysis.
We agree that Trump is a vile pig and should be in prison, along with most of his family for that matter. I have a lot of problems with Trump. However, if you consider the far more serious crimes, like war- and human rights crimes crimes, that other presidents have committed, it’s laughable that these crimes are so serious that they demand prosecution. I was all for prosecuting Trump for these financial crimes before he ran for president, but now it’s being done for political reasons. Trump should also have been prosecuted for ripping off his workers by not paying them, again well before he ran for office. The a-holes who are prosecuting him now were fine with that then, but now they’re not because they don’t want him in the White House.
DeSantis will easily beat those people, and Trump will trounce DeSantis. In fact, Trump will probably beat Biden if he’s not illegitimately prevented from running, which is why they’re prosecuting him.
To be clear, I don’t support any of these scum, including Trump. But we should acknowledge reality, not fantasize about this stuff.
At the moment, Haley seems to be eclipsing DeSantis.
Really? Sorry, I haven’t seen any polling lately. I stopped watching Breaking Points because it got too pro-establishment, both in its look & feel, and in its attitudes. That’s where I got my “establishment” version of the news, including election polling.
Regardless, Trump easily eclipses all other Republicans. That’s the reason that the establishment is trying to convict him: they know that he’ll win the Republican nomination by a landslide (if I can use that term for the primaries), and he has an excellent chance to win the general election. I hate Trump, but not for the reasons that the establishment nor the sh*tlibs hate him.
But it’s not like Trump isn’t guilty of every accusation thrown at him. It’s just that the others before him were never charged for doing the same crimes. I think this might backfire on the establishment in a good way.
The issue isn’t whether he’s guilty or liable for any of this, it’s that it’s political prosecution to keep him from running for president.
Except that no prosecution, political or otherwise, can stop someone from running for president. Eugene Debs ran from his cell in federal prison.
There can be more than one issue. Ignoring that normal people would be sitting in jail under similar circumstances can’t be ignored.
Why should Trump be prosecuted for these things, when other presidents do far worse with no repercussions? Cheney/Bush instituted a torture program and lit the Middle East on fire with their immoral wars. That’s so much worse than anything Trump is even accused of that I have no words for it.
Until presidents start getting prosecuted for more serious crimes, like war crimes, jerks like Trump shouldn’t be either. But far more important is that this is a POLITICAL prosecution, which is wrong in every way.
That’s horrible reasoning. No one is above the law, including presidents. And prosecuting Trump will create a situation where others will think twice before breaking the law because the other party will be doing the same thing the democrats are doing regarding Trump. This is a good thing and has already set a precedent with the republicans looking to do the same with Biden.
You’re clearly not getting what’s going on here. This is a political prosecution, nothing more. If you think that the people prosecuting him are doing it for the right reasons, I’ve got some great deals on bridges for you. This is the ruling class, the establishment, whatever you want to call it, trying to keep Trump out of the White House. That’s all it is, and it won’t make other presidents think twice about anything except for challenging the ruling class/establishment.
My point is not that presidents shouldn’t be prosecuted. My point is that political prosecutions like this one should be prohibited. Presidents certainly should be prosecuted for serious crimes like war- and human rights crimes.
No, I don’t think people are prosecuting him for the right reasons. My point was, and is, that no one is above the law. He’s guilty. Period. And of course it will affect how others behave since this has set a precedent. That’s why it hasn’t been done to this degree thus far. They were always protecting their own ass.
Trump should have been prosecuted 2 years ago. Because of J6 he should not be on any ballot. Period. Add to the mix his fraud conviction.
No, Trump should have been prosecuted decades ago for things like housing discrimination and not paying his workers. I’m sure there were financial shenanigans too that I don’t know about also. January 6 was a setup, there were many government infiltrators and agents provocateurs in that crowd.
Trump incited a riot. Period.
Well, being a radical, I don’t give a damn about that. But you don’t know what went on here if you don’t know it was a setup. There were very many agents provacateurs and undercover cops in the crowd, egging people on to do illegal things (like they always do). Read up on this and you’ll see what I mean. I’m not at all convinced that this would have happened if the agents provacateurs didn’t encourage it.
He started inciting in May of 2020 and continued until January 6th 2021. I watched the shit on TV, I don’t need to read anything. “Hang Mike Pence”.
Yes he did, but that’s how these things usually get started. The fact that he did that doesn’t negate the fact that it was a setup with a lot of agents provacateurs and FBI infiltrators.
Again, I don’t disagree with what you say. I have no doubt there were other actors contributing to the mayhem. But anything that happened after a sitting president stoked the fires for 6 months and then called on his clown base to show up for a “wild time” is still on Trump.
I think January 6th was a happy event for the security state. Look at how police responded to pro Palestinian protesters.
But Trump didn’t call to hang Pence, although I’m sure he enjoyed the sentiment.
this: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/11/02/exp-christie-nh-israel-antisemitism-trump-hunt-intv-110211aseg1-cnni-politics.cnn
MUCH better than the options being presented from the RNC!
While I agree with their positions on some issues where they are opposed to the establishment positions, they also have very bad positions on some issues. Paul isn’t as bad as Massie, but there is no one in the Republican nor Democratic parties who deserves the vote of any real anti-war or progressive person. Cornell West is head & shoulders above all these jerks, but he’s not a politician and I have some serious problems with him also. However, I could hold my nose and vote for him, but that’s about it.
I agree. I was only talking of the GOP side of things. I can’t really even think of two democrats that would be as “good” as Paul and Massie foreign policy wise. I’ll vote third party again. Probably West.
Hey, we’re lucky we got 16. There isn’t a decent human being in Congress as far as I can tell, so it’s surprising we got that many.
I would love nothing more than be proven totally wrong, but it seems to me Assange is dying soon. If not suicided, then oopsy, we just found him dead. Or, oopsy! I was trying to help him but accidently stabbed him in the heart. …What’s that? I’m upsetting you? Good. But probably still not as upset as I am when one of those demons complains about “lack of press freedom in other countries.”
Bad people in the US have created a modern Jesus Christ super star.
It is still early in the dawning of the age of Aquarius.
Biden is a Neo-Con who serves the Corporate Home State of America that represents the Biopharmaceutical and the video/press/media industries and they want Julian to rot in Belmarsh for the rest of his Life. They are the Donor Class that owns/controls these corporations and they control Congress. They want Julian to rot in Belmarsh.
It is a hell of a warning to any patriot inclined to rat out our government for some shit they have done or our contemplating. I am sure there is dirt still to be discovered.
There must be some kind of political calculation involved. American politicians don’t do morally or ethically correct things unless there’s a political advantage to it.
Hence, save Assange and we can feel better about financing the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent, dirty, slightly dark people.
“This is England
We can chain you to the rail
This is England
We can kill you in a jail”
-Joe Strummer
To be fair, this is every country that has ever existed …
True, but most countries don’t claim moral superiority and the ability to dictate morals to other countries like western “democracies” do.
very acurate and astute Frank.
Free Assange Now…!
The headline gave me hope. Then I saw the number 16 and the hope went down the shitter
But it will catch on like a firestorm and soon it will be hundreds of Congressmen and …
sorry, I was dreaming …
It would not matter if it was 416. The only thing Biden cares about is how something affects his election chances
I think 416 would be too big of a number for Biden to ignore. And if he did, he should worry about his election chances. But if the number was 416, people like Biden would never have been elected.
I take your point.
It could be Mr. Decamp is stimulating other bipartisan in congress to join in this effort with his pragmatic title…!
There must be some kind of political calculation involved. American politicians don’t do morally or ethically correct things unless there’s a political advantage to it.
Hence, save Assange and we can feel better about financing the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent, dirty, slightly dark people.
“
American pPoliticians don’t do morally or ethically correct things unless there’s a political advantage to it.”Fixed, no charge.
.. “Politicians don’t do morally or ethically correct things unless there’s a political advantage to it.”
Which is exactly why they should be given as little power as possible. Ideally zero…
On this grossly overpopulated planet filled with totally self-centered irresponsible people, government is badly needed. Otherwise, only the most aggressive people, aka the rich & powerful, get to do what they want, and everyone else gets screwed. I realize that it’s basically like that now, but it would be much worse if the government were disempowered. If anything, the government needs more power to rein in the rich & powerful (not to censor or harass the rest of us).
There is no solution to this problem without greatly lowering our population, which would take hundreds of years to get to a proper level. Then we could live in small groups where people know each other and make societal decisions mutually. Anything else and we’re stuck with these kinds of problems.
Government is HOW “the most aggressive people, aka the rich & powerful, get to do what they want.”
They’re ranchers. Everyone else is livestock. Replacing the ranchers with other ranchers doesn’t free the cattle.
Truer words …..
EXACTLY!
I’ve heard these excuses many times. They don’t hold any merit at all. You think the solution is to change the management and tinker a bit with some superficial “reforms”. It’s been tried over and over ad nauseam. That never works as the new managers always seek to expand their authority and impose their will on others. By intimidation, coercion and ultimately force.
So…. people like you live in a hopeium state and are being used as dupes. Worse. You likely support the violation of human rights. Lots of excuses for supporting those violations. Ultimately it ends up as “the ends justifies the means”.
I actually would agree on the population being reduced. That would likely happen if governments didn’t get involved. But that would need to occur naturally. Else it would be a fundamental violation of human rights. Yes. Having children is indeed a fundamental human right. Forcing others to pay for that is a violation of their rights.
Our human rights are continually being violated by the state, by state actors and, especially those that are connected to the state. That is likely to fail at some time when productive people get sufficiently tired of being abused and stop producing.
Some people say that real change can be brought about by force. This is incorrect. Change by force isn’t real as the mechanisms of oppression still remain in place… just with different masks and different excuses.
How the hell do you get that from what I wrote? I said we need to greatly lower our population in order to fix this. I don’t support big government either, but the alternative is the rich & powerful doing whatever they want at the expense of the rest of us and the planet, even more than they do now. At least the government has to pretend to represent us, the rich & powerful don’t even have to do that.
.”..If anything, the would be much worse if the government were disempowered. If anything, the government needs more power to rein in the rich & powerful (not to censor or harass the rest of us.”
THAT’S how. Uh… “government needs more power”.. Do you actually bother to read or understand what you write? .
You totally misunderstand. I’m saying that these problems are caused by overpopulation, because we should be living in small communities where people know each other. But for the time being, in the context of the current overpopulated society, yes, we need the government to have more power to rein in the rich & powerful. Of course they don’t do that; they work for the rich & powerful instead, which is another problem. But no one who opposes government power has ever shown me how to prevent the rich & powerful from riding roughshod over the rest of us without a government powerful enough to stop or at least contain them. If you’ve got an answer for that, I’m all ears.
No one has ever shown any state that, except in the short term, does anything ELSE than represent the powerful at the expense of the general population.
You think that government protects the population from the rich and powerful. Governments enable the rich and powerful. Connection to the state is usually a prerequisite to becoming rich. The state is the MEANS of exploiting the population BY those who are connected to the state.
Here you go:
Recommend reading: “Our Enemy, the State” by Albert Knock.
Also Frederic Bastiat: ” The Law”
“The real cost of the State is the prosperity we do not see, the jobs that don’t exist, the technologies to which we do not have access, the businesses that do not come into existence, and the bright future that is stolen from us. The State has looted us just as surely as a robber who enters our home at night and steals all that we love.”
Frederic Bastiat
That is probably and accurate,correct and very deep thought.
Too bad its mostly people the media consider “radicals”…
The question that I have is why it took so long for even these 16 to finally wake up? Assange should have been freed years ago.
thx Dave and AWC for your ongoing manning the Barricade for freedom and truth all these years..your defending Assange has been brave and truthful and unremitting….you’re the best….tx
Majorie Taylor Green signed, the Lady may be on her way to higher office.
Majorie Taylor Green, the Lady is on her way to higher office.
too little too late
Better than nothing, but that’s all it is.
The British LACKEYS could have set him free long ago .
Yes, but they’re almost as evil as the U.S. A dead empire filled with people still clinging to it.
ed snowden, brad manning and assange should be given medals and a generous pension for doing/becoming what we should evolve to be; critical thinkers with hearts and titanium balls…
Snowden defected to Russia and became a Russian citizen. And you want to give him a medal? Just how much secret information do you think he gave Russia to live there? He is now a Russian and he not coming back to the USA, unless Russia kick him out.
Snowden is a hero. He exposed that the U.S. government was illegally spying on its own citizens. In a decent country (if there is one), he would have been given a medal, and the people involved in the illegal spying would be in prison.
Sure! It is standard practice for a “hero” to defect to a hostile foreign government. The people who help bring down flight 93 into farm land and save many lives in Washington DC are heroes. Not some bum who stole information and than went to first China and then Russia with that information. Who know what he did with it?
He didn’t steal any information. He copied some information and exposed some of that information to its putative owners (the public).
If the US regime didn’t want him to accept Russian citizenship, perhaps they shouldn’t have chased him to Russia and stranded him there for exposing their crimes.
Copying information which you don’t have legal access to is stealing. The US did not strand him in Russia, he could have made arrangements to return to the US. Anyway he chose to become Russian.
No, copying information isn’t stealing it. And he had legal access to it.
Yes, he could have made arrangements to return himself into the hands of the criminals he exposed, who wanted to punish him for exposing them. But since he’s not an idiot, he did what he had to do to remain out of their clutches.
I hope that he lives long enough to see us overthrow those fucksticks so that he can come home to the thanks of a grateful nation.
Really? How willing would you be to have to move to Russia for the rest of your life for something you believe in? Do that, then tell us how Snowden isn’t a hero. Your Ugly American attitude is showing.
Snowden was prevented from leaving Russia by the suspension of his US passport by the US regime, for the “crime” of revealing that regime’s OTHER crimes against “its own people.”
The US regime’s toadies even forced down another regime’s president’s aircraft over Europe to make sure he wasn’t on it.
Since the US regime forced him to stay in Russia or be railroaded to life in prison (and probably not a very long life — criminals hate being exposed), it’s kind of unseemly for them to whine about him eventually settling down and taking citizenship there.
“Snowden was prevented from leaving Russia by the suspension of his US passport by the US regime” He able to fly into Russia from China without a passport, I am sure arrangements could have been made for his return to the USA with his suspended passport.
He chose to visit first China and than Russia. I don’t think he was site seeing. Was he selling secret information to those countries? It sure looks that way.
Anyway he chose to become a Russian citizens and take an oath of allegiance to Russia. That action makes unworthy of a “medal” as someone suggested.
He flew into Russia on his US passport.
Why would an American hero be unworthy of an American medal just because a criminal government chased him to Russia and stranded him there?
His passport was canceled on June 22. He flew to Russia on June 23. Hong Kong said it was a technical noncompliance issue that let the fugitive get on the plane. And of course once he landed in Russia, there was no way the Russians were going to just let him leave.
Sorry, Tom, you and I will disagree on this. Snowden is the criminal. He stole from the government and like all criminals ran from the crime.
And finally he freely decided to become a Russian. An American hero would never abandon his country.
Sorry, but not surprised, to hear that you support criminals and loathe heroes.
Ed exposed the Ilegal operations your government was doing and that in itself is medal-worthy unless your a fool who just follows and goes along never questioning>>>You sound like you’ve been a relationship, cheated on and you just took it instead of saying about it or doing anything xcept crying…