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Assange Prosecution, Launched By Trump Justice Department, Will Continue
Under Biden
A Justice Department spokesperson indicated officials have no plans to
abandon a case widely viewed as a threat to global press freedom
Kevin Gosztola
Feb 9
President Joe Biden delivers foreign policy speech at the State Department
on February 4. (Photo: State Department)
The Justice Department under President Joe Biden plans to continue the case
against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that was launched under President
Donald Trump.
"We continue to seek his extradition," Justice Department spokesperson Marc
Raimondi told Reuters, days before February 12, the deadline for the United
States government to submit its "grounds for appeal."
The statement represents a departure from President Barack Obama's
administration, which declined to prosecute Assange. Justice Department
officials were reportedly concerned about the threat it would pose to press
freedom.
On January 4, British district judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected the U.S.
government's extradition request and concluded Assange's mental condition
was "such that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the United States
of America."
She accepted that Assange would likely be imprisoned at a supermax prison in
the U.S. under special administrative measures (SAMs) and would find a way
to commit suicide.
"I am satisfied that, in these harsh conditions, Mr. Assange's mental health
would deteriorate causing him to commit suicide with the 'single minded
determination' of his autism spectrum disorder."
However, the Biden Justice Department plans to contest the judge's
conclusion that Assange should not be extradited because he would likely
commit suicide.
Just one day ago, a coalition of civil liberties, press freedom, and human
rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty
International USA, Center for Constitutional Rights, Committee to Protect
Journalists, Fight for the Future, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Human
Rights Watch, PEN America, Project on Government Oversight, and Reporters
Without Borders, signed on to a letter demanding that the Biden Justice
Department drop the charges against Assange.
"The indictment of Mr. Assange threatens press freedom because much of the
conduct described in the indictment is conduct that journalists engage in
routinely-and that they must engage in in order to do the work the public
needs them to do," the letter [PDF] to acting attorney general Monty
Wilkinson declared. "Journalists at major news publications regularly speak
with sources, ask for clarification or more documentation, and receive and
publish documents the government considers secret."
"In our view, such a precedent in this case could effectively criminalize
these common journalistic practices."
The coalition noted former Justice Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, a
Biden supporter, told the Washington Post in 2013, "The problem the
department has always had in investigating Julian Assange is there is no way
to prosecute him for publishing information without the same theory being
applied to journalists."
While Attorney General Eric Holder empaneled a grand jury to investigate
WikiLeaks in 2010, by the summer of 2013, Holder was reluctant to indict
Assange and charges were never brought by the Obama administration.
Assange was charged in April 2019 with 17 counts of violating the Espionage
Act and one count of conspiracy to commit a computer intrusion that contains
elements of an Espionage Act offense. He is detained at the Belmarsh
high-security prison in London and has been denied bail multiple times.
"The Trump administration positioned itself as an antagonist to the
institution of a free and unfettered press in numerous ways," according to
the coalition.
In February 2017-Trump's first month in office, WikiLeaks published "CIA
espionage orders" that called attention to how major political parties in
France were "targeted for infiltration" in the run-up to the 2012
presidential election.
About a month later, WikiLeaks brought further scrutiny to the CIA when they
published the "Vault 7" material, which they described as the "largest ever
publication of confidential documents on the agency."
Mike Pompeo, who was the CIA director, responded to the publication on April
13, 2017. He labeled WikiLeaks a "non-state hostile intelligence service"
and argued Assange had "no First Amendment freedoms" because "he is not a
U.S. citizen," an assertion with no basis in law.
"We've had administrations before that have been squeamish about going after
these folks under some concept of this right to publish," Pompeo added.
Assange, who was living under asylum in the Ecuador embassy, was targeted in
a U.S.-backed espionage operation conducted by a private security company
called U.C. Global, which currently faces a criminal case in Spain.
Pompeo and Attorney General Bill Barr had no problem with employing
questionable and potentially illegal tactics that would ultimately result in
the arrest of Assange, and now, officials are demonstrating the end of
Trump's presidency doesn't mean they will go back to being "squeamish"
toward cases that threaten the right to publish.
During Biden's first foreign policy speech on February 4, he proclaimed, "We
believe a free press isn't an adversary; rather, it's essential. A free
press is essential to the health of a democracy."
However, in Trump's last year in office, he signed a counterintelligence
strategy document [PDF] that lumped in "leaktivists" and "public disclosure
organizations," like WikiLeaks, with Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba,
and terrorist groups, which U.S. security agencies view as "significant
threats."
That strategy document, which covers 2020-2022, sharply conflicts with
Biden's assertion that the U.S. government believes the free press is not an
adversary. Indeed, it shows U.S. security agencies believe they should
monitor, neutralize, and even target dissident media organizations that may
employ practices pioneered by WikiLeaks.
While the tone of the new administration may sound more polite toward elite
journalists, by refusing to abandon this dangerous political case, the Biden
Justice Department is effectively signaling his administration is not all
that serious about press freedom and what officials have to say are empty
platitudes that should not pacify people aware of what is at stake if
Assange is brought to the U.S. and put on trial.