{"id":1505362,"date":"2024-12-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1505362"},"modified":"2024-12-01T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T17:00:00","slug":"us-reps-urge-biden-for-full-pardon-of-julian-assange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/us-reps-urge-biden-for-full-pardon-of-julian-assange\/1505362\/","title":{"rendered":"US Reps Urge Biden For Full Pardon Of Julian Assange"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Reps Urge Biden For Full Pardon Of Julian Assange<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

House Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and James McGovern (D-MA)\u00a0have sent a letter to President Biden<\/a>\u00a0urging him to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to send a message that Biden will “not target or investigate journalists and media outlets simply for doing their jobs.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We write, first, to express our appreciation for your administration\u2019s decision last spring to facilitate a resolution of the criminal case against publisher Julian Assange and to withdraw the related extradition request that had been pending in the United Kingdom,” Massie and McGovern wrote in the letter dated November 1,\u00a0which was first made public<\/a>\u00a0earlier this past week.<\/p>\n

Via Fox News<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Assange was freed in a plea deal earlier this year after spending more than five years in London\u2019s Belmarsh Prison while battling a US extradition request. He was indicted by the Trump administration in 2019 for exposing US war crimes by publishing classified documents leaked to WikiLeaks by former Army Private Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning in 2010.<\/p>\n

Under the indictment, Assange could have faced up to 175 years in prison in the US for publishing the documents, a standard journalistic practice. While the plea deal set him free, it required him to plead guilty to violating the Espionage Act<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“The terms of Mr. Assange\u2019s plea agreement have now set a precedent that greatly deepens our concern,” Massie and McGovern said. “A review of prosecutions under the Espionage Act makes clear that Mr. Assange\u2019s case is the first time the Act has been deployed against a publisher<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The lawmakers pointed to comments from Jodie Ginsberg, the CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, who said, “While we welcome the end of his detention, the US\u2019s pursuit of Assange has set a harmful legal precedent by opening the way for journalists to be tried under the Espionage Act if they receive classified material from whistleblowers.”<\/p>\n

Massie and McGovern concluded the letter by saying, “We therefore urge you to consider issuing a pardon for Mr. Assange. A pardon would remove the precedent set by the plea and send a clear message that the US government under your leadership will not target or investigate journalists and media outlets simply for doing their jobs.”<\/p>\n

BREAKING: U.S. Lawmakers @RepMcGovern<\/a> and @RepThomasMassie<\/a> call on President Biden to pardon Julian Assange. #PardonAssange<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/qVvHZPuKhA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 28, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Fox News<\/em>, Assange\u2019s brother, Gabriel Shipton, is heading to Washington in January to push for a pardon before Biden leaves office.\u00a0Click here<\/a>\u00a0to add your name to an open letter calling on Biden to pardon the WikiLeaks founder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSun, 12\/01\/2024 – 07:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/us-reps-urge-biden-full-pardon-julian-assange<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Reps Urge Biden For Full Pardon Of Julian Assange Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, House Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and James McGovern (D-MA)\u00a0have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1505363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1505362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1505362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1505363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1505362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1505362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1505362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}