Former Congressman Ron Paul is calling on President Trump to not imprison whistleblower Julian Assange under the Espionage Act.
In the Ron Paul Liberty Report, former congressman Paul and Daniel McAdams discussed whether the U.S. and British government are working together to kill the Wikileaks founder. Paul notes that seven years ago the Ecuadorean government granted Assange asylum over fear that the American government was ready to place espionage charges on him.
Paul highlights that Assange “spent those years in a small room in the Ecuadorian embassy in London without sunlight. Without fresh air. Without exercise. Without medical treatment.” Eventually, the International Monetary Fund, an international organ the U.S. dominates, enticed the Ecuadorian government under the leadership of new President Lenin Moreno with a 4 billion dollar loan.
In response, Moreno complied with the U.S. and turned Assange over to British authorities, who ended up arresting him for skipping bail in 2012. Assange was brought straight to court and then sentenced to 50 weeks in prison.
The Trump administration disappointed all liberty-lovers when it decided to indict Assange on 17 counts of the U.S. Espionage Act, which could have him facing 170 years in prison or even be put to death. All for simply partaking in journalistic activities that the political establishment hates.
Now there are reports that Assange is too sick to even appear on video at his own court hearings. UN Special Rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer claims that Assange has been the “victim of brutal psychological torture” over the past nine years. The UN investigator finished off by saying that “In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution I have never seen a group of democratic States ganging up to deliberately isolate, demonize, and abuse a single individual for such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the rule of law.”
Assange has done a heroic job in exposing defense interests and their political mouthpieces in Washington D.C. over the years. Because of this, he has earned the collective ire of the entire neoconservative/neoliberal order.
Trump’s election in 2016 was largely facilitated by Assange’s leaks which exposed the corruption of Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton. It would be tragically ironic if Assange is sentenced to prison under Trump’s watch, given how much Trump benefitted from Assange’s leaks.
Donald Trump should do the right thing and ignore the neocons by officially pardoning Julian Assange.
