Bi-partisan support from Congress, and new information from Project Veritas, make the case
By Dan Murphy
As President Donald Trump issues pardons during the final days of his Presidency, calls from members of Congress, and others, are asking for Trump to add to his pardon list Julian Assange and Edward Snowden.
Assange, 49, launched the website WikiLeaks in 2006. He faces charges of receiving and publishing classified U.S. military and diplomatic material through WikiLeaks dating back to 2010. He spent years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London until he was forcibly removed and was arrested in 2019. He remains in a London jail awaiting extradition to the United States
Mr. Snowden, 37, admittedly leaked classified material about the U.S. National Security in 2013 while he was working as a contractor for the National Security Agency, (NSA). Snowden leaked the material to journalist Glenn Greenwald in an attempt to expose what he saw as an overreach by our government into the lives of Americans who had not committed, nor were accused of committing a crime, through the many global surveillance programs run by the CIA and NSA. Snowden was granted asylum in Russia in 2013 and has lives there today.
Congressmembers Tulsi Gabbard, a democrat, and Matt Gaetz, a republican, have both called for Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, and Snowden, who blew the whistle on illegal data collection by American intelligence agencies, to be pardoned.
“Since you’re giving pardons to people, please consider pardoning those who, at great personal sacrifice, exposed the deception and criminality of those in the deep state,” Tweeted Gabbard, who has co-sponsored a bill in Congress for charges against both Assange and Snowden to be dropped. “Brave whistleblowers exposing lies & illegal actions in our government must be protected. Join me and urge Congress: Pass my bipartisan legislation (HRes1162, HRes1175, HR8452) calling for charges against @snowden & Assange to be dropped & to reform the Espionage Act.”
“Edward Snowden has been unfairly villainized and persecuted for disclosing the true scope of illegal government surveillance. This is unjust,” Mr. Gaetz said in a statement. “Charges against Snowden should be dropped.”
Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, from Kentucky, said, “The ongoing attempts to prosecute Julian Assange threaten our First Amendment rights, and should be opposed by all who wish to safeguard our constitutional rights now and in the years to come. I join my colleague, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, in calling for an immediate end to all charges against Mr. Assange.”
Senator Rand Paul has also called for Snowden to be pardoned. “It is important to remember that Snowden leaked information about unconstitutional spying and was motivated to do so after watching Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lie about it under oath…He and others like him in the Deep State abused power and shredded the Constitution. And Snowden exposed them. Contrary to the media narrative, Snowden was attempting to expose this type of anti-American behavior from the Deep State, not damage our security…Joe Biden — an ally of the Deep State and self-proclaimed author of parts of the Patriot Act — would continue the wrongful prosecution,” said Sen. Paul.
The Westchester connection to this story is Project Veritas, with offices in Mamaroneck. On Dec. 16, Project Veritas, and its publisher James O’Keefe, released audio tapes of Julian Assange speaking to the US State Department back in 2011, which show Assange was attempting to warn the US Government about the upcoming release of classified information.
“A whistleblower provided this audio to Project Veritas, so that the American people have a more accurate account of Assange and his conduct,” said James O’Keefe, the founder and CEO of Project Veritas. “Political pressure is building for President Donald Trump to pardon Assange at the end of his first term and this tape goes a long way to rebooting how he has been portrayed.”
During the 75-minute conversation, Assange, who initiated the call, said to State Department attorney Cliff Johnson that he was concerned that classified information from the State Department is about to be released—outside of its control by a rogue former employee, who stole the information in order to establish his own rival media outlet.
“Yes, so the situation is that we have intelligence that the State Department Database Archive of 250,000 diplomatic cables including declassified cables is being spread around and is to the degree that we believe that within the next few days it will become public,” said Assange. “We’re not sure but the timing could be imminently or within the next few days to a week and there may be some possibility to stop it.”
Near the end of the conversation, which can be heard on projectveritas.com, Johnson said, “Right. I appreciate what you’ve told us Mr. Assange.”
O’Keefe said, “The thing that stands out throughout this tape is that over and over again, Assange expresses his concern for the people endangered by what he believes to be a reckless release. There is an integrity to Assange’s conduct that cannot be denied, whether you welcomed his releases or not,” he said. (https://www.projectveritas.com/news/exclusive-project-veritas-releases-audio-of-assange-warning-u-s-government/)
Assange’s work with US Army intelligence specialist Pvt. Chelsea Manning made him a fugitive from American justice. Manning downloaded documents and videos from U.S. Army computers and gave them to Assange. Manning pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act and received a 35-year sentence. President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s sentence to time served, roughly seven years, Jan. 17, 2017—three days before the end of his term.
The U.S. Justice Department indicted Assange in 2019 of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, accusing him of aiding Manning in getting into the Army database.
Rising Newspapers and YonkersTimes.com join with thousands of journalists across the world in calling for the pardon, or the dropping of charges against both Mr. Snowden and Mr. Assange, based on the First Amendment and on the belief that we need transparency in government, and both Assange and Snowden have exposed what they see as wrongdoing. They are true whistleblowers and the charges against them send an unfortunate message to others who know about improper activity not to come forward.
Snowden came forward after former Director of National Intelligence, (DNI), James Clapper lied when he testified to Congress if the NSA collected data from the American people he said “No,” and Snowden’s release proved otherwise.
“Edward Snowden performed an immense act of public service to the American people by blowing the whistle on the National Security Agency’s vast, clandestine surveillance programs. President Donald Trump should pardon him,” wrote Chip Gibbons in the Jacobin Magainze, (https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/12/pardon-edward-snowden-nsa-trump)
We couldn’t agree more.
It is interesting to note that none of our Westchester members of Congress, nor our two U.S. Senators have called for the release or pardon of Assange or Snowden.
