WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released after agreeing to a plea deal with the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Assange will plead guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose national defense information. Prosecutors are seeking a 62-month prison sentence, the equivalent of which was served in the U.K. The plea deal would accept the time served in British prison.
According to a letter from Matthew J. McKenzie, the Deputy Chief of Counterintelligence and Export Control within the DOJ, the agency “appreciate[s] the Court accommodating these plea and sentencing proceedings on a single day at the joint request of the parties, in light of the defendant’s opposition to traveling to the continental United States to enter his guilty plea and the proximity of this federal U.S. District Court to the defendant’s country of citizenship, Australia, to which we expect he will return at the conclusion of the proceedings.”
The WikiLeaks founder was indicted by a Virginia federal grand jury in 2019 after he leaked classified information about U.S. military operations.
Assange, alongside Bradley Manning, who now goes by “Chelsea,” revealed information that was “to be used to the injury of the United States or the advantage of a foreign nation,” the 2019 press release states.
Hudson Institute senior fellow and director of the Keystone Defense Initiative Rebeccah Heinrichs told The Daily Wire that the U.S. does not know the “extent of the damage Assange and Manning’s massive breach caused.”
Heinrichs added that the U.S. does know the two individuals “shared national secrets that jeopardized the lives of Afghans and Iraqis who were helping the U.S. military locate and destroy Taliban and Al Qaeda. Letting off Assange is another act of betrayal of those who aided the U.S. in destroying terrorists and it’s another blow to U.S. credibility and trustworthiness.”
While prosecutors argue Assange’s actions were a national security threat, many claimed the leaks exposed military wrongdoing and are to be celebrated.
WikiLeaks was also behind the publication of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton.
His liberation is great news, but it’s a travesty that he’s already spent so much time in jail.
“My plane landed in DC & I just heard Julian Assange will soon be free due to a deal. His liberation is great news, but it’s a travesty that he’s already spent so much time in jail,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wrote on X. “Obama, Trump, & Biden should have never pursued this prosecution. Pardon Snowden & Free Ross now.”
“The same people that threw Julian Assange in a dungeon for being a good journalist are trying to throw Donald Trump in jail for being a good president,” wrote another social media user.
“What Julian Assange went through is horrific,” commentator Graham Allen said. “He did NOTHING WRONG. Glad he is a free man once again!”
Assange is expected to return home to Australia.
