Biden mulls Australia's request to drop Julian Assange prosecution

The U.S. charged him in 2010 over his role in the publication of thousands of classified government documents.

By Ben Whedon

Published: April 10, 2024 6:03pm

President Joe Biden on Wednesday indicated that he was mulling Australia's request that the U.S. drop its efforts to prosecute Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks who published a litany of classified materials.

"We're considering it," Biden said, according to the Associated Press. Assange is an Australian citizen currently in the custody of the United Kingdom, which has temporarily blocked his extradition to the U.S. due to concerns he may face the death penalty.

Assange spent years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London before his arrest. He has spent the past five years in a maximum security prison. The U.S. charged him in 2010 over his role in the publication of thousands of classified government documents.

Assange obtained the materials from former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, whom the U.S. says Assange pushed and helped to steal the materials. President Barack Obama commuted Manning's sentence and the former analyst left U.S. custody in 2017.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.