Bipartisan Effort Hits Biden With Demand to Drop Case Against Assange

(NationRise.com) – Congressional representatives across party lines are gathering support among other members of Congress for a letter demanding that the Biden administration drop charges against Julian Assange, the creator of WikiLeaks, immediately.

The effort is being led by James McGovern (D-MA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY). The letter comes as Assange faces a possible extradition to the United States over charges regarding his site publishing confidential documents from the military. In the letter, lawmakers implore the White House to end the current extradition request.

The renewed effort to free Assange follows a recent visit to Washington DC from Australian officials. Those delegates, who were also bipartisan, met with several US representatives and nonprofits dedicated to civil rights. They were also calling for charges against Assange to be dropped. Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, is also expected to ask for the charges to be dropped during his upcoming visit to Washington, DC.

If convicted, Assange is facing a potential 175-year sentence, which would be carried out in a maximum-security facility.

Assange’s charges stem from documents published on his WikiLeaks platform in 2010. Thousands of classified documents and other media files, including video footage from the war in Iraq, became publicly available to a global audience. The leak gained international attention and led to collaborations between WikiLeaks and several prominent news outlets.

He spent much of the next couple of years on the move, finding housing from supporters when possible. In 2012, Assange sought refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in England to avoid arrest. He was arrested in 2019 after his asylum was revoked.

WikiLeaks made national headlines again in 2016 after releasing thousands of emails sent by then-Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The archive also includes a search function that allows users to find specific emails with a keyword search. Those emails revealed revelations of numerous ethical violations. Clinton blamed WikiLeaks for her loss in the presidential elections later that year.