With less than 24 hours to go before President Trump’s term expires, Julian Assange’s partner has appealed to Trump to grant the WikiLeaks founder a pardon.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Stella Morris described the U.S. government’s case against her partner as one that could decide the future of free speech and citizen journalism.
“This isn’t a matter of who is in office. Both sides of politics must know by now that the case against Julian is the single gravest threat to the First Amendment, and it comes at a time when the United States is experiencing a serious free speech crisis,” she said. “Julian’s case is also a major political problem for the U.S. government’s closest allies, the governments of Australia and the United Kingdom, who have played along even though their populations and the media are against it. There’s a lot of inertia that keeps the case trundling along, but really, it is against everyone’s interests to keep it going.”
Assange currently sits in a British prison cell after receiving a 50-week sentence in 2019 for violating conditions of his bail after seeking asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy in 2012.
Morris told the Washington Examiner that she believes the president is sympathetic to Assange’s case but is receiving resistance from the intelligence community. She claimed that many within the government are manipulating the press through selective leaks to give the impression that Trump has made up his mind against issuing clemency for Assange in order to demoralize her efforts.
Assange faces a litany of charges from the government, which opted to prosecute him under the rarely used 1917 Espionage Act. If found guilty, Assange could be sentenced to a maximum of 175 years in prison. Earlier this month, a British judge denied Assange’s bail request, claiming he was a “flight risk” following pleas from British prosecutors. That same judge denied a request from U.S. officials to extradite him just two days prior, leaving Assange in legal limbo.
“Any president who believes in defending the First Amendment is the right president to pardon him. Julian should never have been indicted for publishing the truth,” Morris said. “WikiLeaks is the antidote of what the president calls ‘fake news.’ If Julian’s case goes to trial, the First Amendment may not survive it. President Trump is very concerned about the unbridled power of Silicon Valley companies, so it would make sense for President Trump to want to be the one to pardon Julian because he is one of Silicon Valley’s biggest critics.”
Tech firms have received mounting criticism from conservatives over what they see as increasingly totalitarian censorship measures.
“It is clear that the U.S. must change its domestic spying policies, especially after the courts have confirmed that these programs are illegal following Snowden’s revelations,” Morris said when asked about her potential concerns with President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. “But there is a deeper question about how much Big Tech companies have already merged with the domestic spying apparatus and the private surveillance industry. Julian has long warned that the real threat are these unaccountable corporations.”
She added that the U.S. faces the risk of “elected representatives and bureaucrats abusing their positions” and a merging of “democratic institutions … with unaccountable ones.”
“So, one must constantly try to understand these relationships, what is actually going on, and whether the administration is being transparent about whose interests are being served.”
Regarding calls for new security measures following the riot on Capitol Hill, Morris cautioned against an overreaction from Democrats.
“This is obviously an important time in American history and one that puts lawmakers to the test,” she said. “Lawmakers should be concerned about ensuring their response does not further complicate the situation and that constitutional liberties are not compromised.”
Despite her stressing the symbolic meaning of a pardon for her partner, Morris stressed Assange’s alleged deteriorating health as one of her main motivations. Last summer, Assange missed a court hearing due to “respiratory problems,” according to one of his attorneys. In November, his prison underwent strict lockdown measures following a COVID-19 outbreak.
“There is an outbreak in his prison, and he is vulnerable to the complications from COVID,” Morris said. “In spite of all this difficulty, Julian has good days and bad days. He is also a great source of emotional support for me even though he is in an infinitely more difficult situation.”
Assange’s mental health has long been a concern for his attorneys and family. The chief rationale for a British judge denying the U.S.’s extradition request was the concern that Assange would commit suicide in custody.
Assange asserted in February 2019 that Trump offered him a pardon if he denied Russia’s role in the 2016 Democratic National Committee hack. The White House has since called Assange’s claim false.
