Julian Assange to be released after pleading guilty to espionage

 

File photo of Julian Assange. Fox News/Getty.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will be released after pleading guilty to espionage. Fox News. Assange spent the last five years in a British prison fighting extradition. Assange was charged with conspiring with Bradly Manning (now known as Chelsea) to release secret military and diplomatic information. Assange was charged in the case despite being a journalist. Assange will be sentenced to 62 months in prison, and the time he spent imprisoned in the UK will count as time served and his sentence will already be completed when entered. Assange will return to his homeland, Australia. The end to the multi year drama has been praised by groups as disparate as the ACLU, the Australian government and many prominent Republicans. 

My Comment:

This isn't the perfect outcome in this case as Assange never should have been charged in the first place. Bradly Manning? Sure, he took an oath to the government and betrayed it. But Assange was not only a journalist doing his job, he was also not an American citizen and could not betray the US government because he never took and oath to it in the first place. 

Indeed, the charges almost certainly are because he got blamed for Hillary Clinton losing in 2016. The powers that be never forgave him for publishing embarrassing things from the DNC and Hillary's campaign manager, John Podesta. Those releases showed America the dark side of both the Democrats and it could be argued that it cost Clinton the election. By their thought she wasn't supposed to lose so it irked them to no end that Assange published it. 

They never stopped trying to destroy Assange after that. He was charged with rape in Sweden and was called a Russian stooge, despite posting information embarrassing to Russia as well. The charges were just the cumulation of an attempt to destroy Assange. 

The sad thing is that it mostly worked. Wikileaks has never been the same since Assange was charged and is a spent force at best. We did not get any of the leaks we saw in 2016 during the 2020 election cycle and the election was worse off because of it. And I doubt that Assange will go back to his work after this five year ordeal. From what I understand his health isn't the best and I am sure he wants to spend time with his kids. 

Could Wikileaks make a comeback? I doubt it. I don't know if Assange is up to it and I am guessing that even if he was people would be too afraid to send him anything juicy. His prosecution will have a chilling effect even beyond what it already had. I don't think it's a coincidence that most news outlets refused to publish the Hunter Biden laptop story  in 2020. Part of it was the fact that the media was mostly all-in on Biden, but I am guessing at least part of it was due journalists being afraid that they would get the Assange treatment...