WikiLeaks seemed to indicate Tuesday evening that founder Julian Assange intends to make good on a pledge last year to agree to U.S. prison time if President Obama granted Chelsea Manning clemency.
Tuesday afternoon the Obama administration announced that the former Army soldier, who was convicted of leaking sensitive information about American military and diplomatic activities to the government transparency site WikiLeaks in 2010, would not have to serve the entirety of a 35-year sentence and instead will be released this May.
The news prompted speculation about whether Assange would make good on WikiLeaks’ September 2016 tweet saying, if Obama granted Manning clemency, “Assange will agree to U.S. prison in exchange.”
If Obama grants Manning clemency, Assange will agree to US prison in exchange — despite its clear unlawfulness https://t.co/MZU30S3Eia
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 15, 2016
Hours later, WikiLeaks’ Twitter account relayed a message from Assange’s lawyer, Melinda Taylor, who said of the “extradition ‘deal'” that “Everything that he has said he’s standing by.”
Assange lawyer @themtchair on Assange-Manning extradition ‘deal’: “Everything that he has said he’s standing by.”
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 18, 2017
Assange has resided in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He is wanted in Sweden on charges of sexual assault, but has expressed fear that he could be extradited to the United States for publishing classified information should he leave the embassy.
His lawyers have called on the Justice Department to “clarify” Assange’s status and to end its investigation into Assange and WikiLeaks.
New statement from the lawyers of Wikileaks’ Julian Assange on the presidential commutation of Chelsea Manning pic.twitter.com/IvgPJ7xtkN
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 17, 2017
