Australia Asks DOJ to Reach Plea Deal with Julian Assange

For years now, the saga of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been hanging on the brink.

Now, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is facing pressure from Australia.

A plea deal is being requested to remove the blocks that are currently preventing Assange from being deported.

Make the Deal

Australia’s government has made a formal request to the United States to reach a plea agreement with Assange, according to reports, so that Assange can return home.

The United States only has until Tuesday to assure the U.K. court that Assange will be afforded the same First Amendment protections that United States citizens enjoy in this country.

That is the exact opposite of what prosecutors have claimed thus far in this case.

Assange has been held in the U.K. for several years, and without those assurances, his only path will be to appeal his extradition.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that negotiations were taking place on this front, but no formal deal has been reached to this point.

Even Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has openly asked that the United States to complete the plea deal so that Assange could go home.

During a recent interview, Albanese stated, “We’ve used all of our diplomatic efforts at every level to communicate that it is time that this was brought to a close. Enough is enough.

“There’s nothing to be served by the ongoing incarceration of Mr. Assange.”

Biden has been asked about this by the media, only responding that the option is being considered by the Justice Department.

Assange’s website, WikiLeaks, published tens of thousands of pages of reports beginning in 2010 and was in the middle of the Hillary Clinton email leaks.

Assange was charged in 2019 for those leaks and later apprehended in the U.K.

Since being in custody, U.S. prosecutors have argued because Assange was publishing defense information, First Amendment protections do not apply.