Reactions to Julian Assange plea deal differ across the US political divide

Reaction to the news that Julian Assange had agreed to plead guilty to a single charge under the Espionage Act in order to go free came from various parts of the US political spectrum on Tuesday.

James Clapper, director of US national intelligence in 2010 when Assange and his WikiLeaks organization published secret US intelligence documents with a consortium of newspapers including the Guardian, told CNN: “I actually think this came out pretty well … Critical to this was his plea of one count of espionage.

“He’s paid his dues,” Clapper added. “There was a damage assessment done at the time – there was concern but I don’t recall direct proof that assets in Afghanistan and Iraq supporting or helping the US were exposed.”

Former Republican vice-president Mike Pence, however, described Assange’s plea deal as “a miscarriage of justice and dishonors the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our armed forces and their families”.

Related: Washington v WikiLeaks: how the US pursued Julian Assange

“Julian Assange endangered the lives of our troops in a time of war and should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Pence said, adding: “There should be no plea deals to avoid prison for anyone that endangers the security of our military or the national security of the United States. Ever.”

The liberal film-maker Michael Moore, who put up a $20,0000 bond in 2010 for Assange’s release on bail, said this was a “happy day”.

Moore said of Assange: “The good people of this world will never forget your sacrifice.” He continued, saying that Assange “would face no further harassment or threats from the American government. Although 14 years of his life were stolen from him by a government of, yes, war criminals, they were never able to lay a hand on him.

“Hopefully, someday, this country of ours will apologize to him for this torture. In the meantime, let us all draw from him the kind of courage that is needed during our darkest times of aggression and the funding of foreign slaughter with our tax dollars,” Moore added. “It is also my hope that we will sometime soon return to having a vital and vibrant press that exists to uncover the lies and protect us, the citizens, from those who would seek to end our democracy.”

Former congresswoman and Iraq veteran Tulsi Gabbard said: “This
should never have happened, but finally, Julian Assange is free.”

The press freedom group PEN America, which had long called for the charges to be dropped, said it welcomed the resolution of the case.

“The US government’s pursuit of charges against Julian Assange under the Espionage Act has posed an alarming threat to press freedom in the United States and globally, sending a chilling message to journalists and risking emboldening authoritarian governments,” it said in a statement.

“The charges targeted activity routinely undertaken by journalists in the course of their work to expose wrongdoing and hold the powerful to account. It is critical that his guilty plea on the single count not be construed as setting a precedent for further prosecutions or convictions of journalists under the Espionage Act.”

It called for reform the Espionage Act to include an exception for information disclosures that advance the public interest.

President Biden and his Republican challenger, Donald Trump, have yet to comment on the plea deal.

In April, Biden said he was “considering” dropping the charges against Assange and the US extradition attempt.

The state department later deflected over the progress of talks.

“One of the crimes that Julian Assange is charged with is helping Chelsea Manning hack into government systems,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “which as far as I’m aware has never been considered a legitimate journalistic practice.”

During his presidency, Trump reportedly asked for legal options on how to resolve the case.

At an extradition hearing in London in 2020, lawyers for Assange said Trump had offered Assange a pardon if he said Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic party emails.

Assange’s lawyers alleged that during a visit to London in August 2017, the former US congressman Dana Rohrabacher told the WikiLeaks founder that “on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr Assange … said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC [Democratic National Committee] leaks”.

The allegation was denied by Rohrabacher.