Bipartisan House lawmakers demand Biden drop Julian Assange case

Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and James McGovern, D-Mass., are leading a House of Representatives letter demanding President Joe Biden to stop prosecuting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is fighting extradition to the U.S.

The two congressmen asked fellow House lawmakers to join their bipartisan attempt to "strongly encourage the Biden administration to withdraw the U.S. extradition request currently pending against Australian publisher Julian Assange and halt all prosecutorial proceedings against him as soon as possible," according to a "Dear Colleague" letter, Fox News Digital reported Monday.

"Mr. Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, faces multiple charges under the Espionage Act due to his role in publishing classified documents about the U.S. State Department, Guantánamo Bay, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," the letter that the lawmakers plan on sending Biden states.

The lawmakers also defend Assange's actions as a journalist who should be protected under freedom of the press in their letter to Biden.

"It is the duty of journalists to seek out sources, including documentary evidence, in order to report to the public on the activities of government," they wrote. "The United States must not pursue an unnecessary prosecution that risks criminalizing common journalistic practices and thus chilling the work of the free press. We urge you to ensure that this case be brought to a close in as timely a manner as possible."

The British government in June 2022 ordered the extradition of Assange to face charges in the U.S. He had spent seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London until he was imprisoned in the United Kingdom in 2019, where he still remains.

Major media outlets including The New York Times and The Guardian have all called for the charges against Assange to be dropped.

More recently, United States Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy in August hinted at a potential plea deal that could allow Assange to return to his home country of Australia.

U.S. lawmakers have until Thursday to sign the bipartisan letter.

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