Biden faces a renewed push, domestically and internationally, to drop charges against Assange, who is languishing in a UK jail:
The Biden administration has been saying all the right things lately about respecting a free and vigorous press, after four years of relentless media-bashing and legal assaults under Donald Trump.
The attorney general, Merrick Garland, has even put in place expanded protections for journalists this fall, saying that "a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy".
But the biggest test of Biden's commitment remains imprisoned in a jail cell in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been held since 2019 while facing prosecution in the United States under the Espionage Act, a century-old statute that has never been used before for publishing classified information.
[...] Now Biden is facing a re-energized push, both inside the United States and overseas, to drop Assange's protracted prosecution.
Five major media organizations that relied on his trove of government secrets, including the Guardian and the New York Times, put out an open letter earlier this month saying that his indictment "sets a dangerous precedent" and threatens to undermine the first amendment.
(Score: 2) by helel on Wednesday December 14 2022, @04:12AM (1 child)
You really don't think Trump ever did anything petty just for the sake of being petty? Never took the chance to piss on people without any gain for himself? I feel like you were watching a much more benevolent bovine than I was over the last presidency.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 14 2022, @11:37AM
> Never took the chance to piss on people without any gain for himself?
But pissing on people empties the bladder, surely that has to count as a gain?