WASHINGTON D.C. — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty to violating the Espionage Act and is expected to appear in a U.S. courtroom on the Northern Mariana Islands in the coming days, according to court records revealed Monday. The plea deal is set to be finalized Wednesday and will address Assange’s outstanding legal issues with the U.S. government.
Details of the Plea Agreement
Justice Department prosecutors have recommended a 62-month prison sentence as part of the plea agreement. However, Assange will not spend additional time in U.S. custody as he will receive credit for the approximately five years he has already served in a U.K. prison while fighting extradition to the U.S. The Justice Department has indicated that Assange opposed traveling to the continental U.S. to enter the plea and plans to return to Australia after the court hearing.
Charges Against Assange
Assange, an Australian national, was indicted in 2019 by a federal grand jury in Virginia on charges that he illegally obtained and disseminated classified information regarding America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through his WikiLeaks site. The indictment included accusations of recruiting individuals to hack into computers and illegally obtain classified information.
Assange is set to plead guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information. His attorney has declined to comment on the matter.
Connection with Chelsea Manning
One of Assange’s notable recruits, U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, was convicted for the 2010 leak of hundreds of thousands of sensitive military records to WikiLeaks. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but her sentence was commuted by former President Barack Obama in 2017. Assange was accused of collaborating with Manning to crack a password on a Defense Department computer system that stored sensitive records about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as Guantanamo Bay detainee assessments.
Legal and Political Implications
Assange and his supporters have argued that the charges should not have been filed, claiming he was acting as a journalist reporting on government actions. The expected guilty plea brings an end to a protracted legal battle spanning multiple countries.
In May, Assange won the right to appeal his extradition to the U.S. after a British court requested assurances from the U.S. government that Assange would receive free speech protections under the U.S. Constitution and would not face the death penalty if convicted on espionage charges.
Assange’s Long-Standing Legal Troubles
Assange’s legal issues began in 2010 when a Swedish prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for allegations of rape and sexual assault, which Assange denied. Fearing extradition to Sweden, he sought asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 and remained there until he was evicted in 2019. Swedish prosecutors eventually dropped their investigation in 2017, but Assange remained wanted by British authorities for skipping bail.
WikiLeaks and U.S. Politics
WikiLeaks played a significant role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by publishing thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, which were stolen by Russian hackers. Although Assange and WikiLeaks were mentioned numerous times in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, they were not charged for their actions during that period.
President Biden has indicated he is considering a request from Australia to allow Assange to return to his home country, which has called for the U.S. to drop the case against him. This development marks a significant milestone in the long-standing and complex saga of Julian Assange’s legal battles.
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