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US Lawmakers Renew Call for Biden to Drop Charges Against Julian Assange
"The bottom line is that journalism is not a crime," said Rep. Jim McGovern. "The stakes are too high for us to remain silent."
Nov 09, 2023
Imploring the Biden administration to "not pursue an unnecessary prosecution that risks criminalizing common journalistic practices," a bipartisan group of 16 U.S. lawmakers have signed a letter dated Wednesday to President Joe Biden urging him to end the attempted extradition of Julian Assange and drop all charges against the jailed publisher.
"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," states the letter, which is led by Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). "He has been detained on remand in London since 2019 and is pending extradition to the U.S., having lost his appeal of the extradition order in the courts of the United Kingdom."
Assange—who suffers from physical and mental health problems including heart and respiratory issues—published materials, many of them provided by whistleblower Chelsea Manning, exposing U.S. and allied war crimes, including the "Collateral Murder" video showing a U.S. Army helicopter crew killing a group of Iraqi civilians, the Afghan War Diary, and the Iraq War Logs.
"Deep concerns about this case have been repeatedly expressed by international media outlets, human rights, and press freedom advocates, and members of Congress," the lawmakers wrote. "In April of this year... members of the House argued to Attorney General Merrick Garland that 'every day that the prosecution of Julian Assange continues is another day that our own government needlessly undermines our own moral authority abroad and rolls back the freedom of the press under the First Amendment at home.'"
The new letter has been signed by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Paul Gosar (R-Az.), Jesús "Chuy" García (D-Ill.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Matthew Rosendale (R-Mont.), and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Ina message last month inviting congressional colleagues to sign the letter, McGovern and Massie explained that their goal is"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."
McGovern said last month in a statement to The Intercept that "the bottom line is that journalism is not a crime."
"The work reporters do is about transparency, trust, and speaking truth to power," he added. "When they are unjustly targeted, we all suffer the consequences. The stakes are too high for us to remain silent."
The new letter follows last month's official state visit of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, an Assange supporter who raised the jailed journalist's case with President Joe Biden, insisting that "enough is enough." A cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers also traveled to the U.S. ahead of Albanese's visit in an effort to pressure the Biden administration "to cease its pursuit and prosecution of Julian Assange."
Imploring Americans to put themselves in Australian shoes, former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce told reporters after meeting with U.S. officials during the lawmakers' trip: "Imagine if the Australian government said, 'Hey you in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, as far as we're concerned, you committed a crime, and you're going to Canberra where we're going to send you to jail for 175 years,' you'd be up us like a rat up a drainpipe."
According to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Assange has been arbitrarily deprived of his freedom since he was arrested on December 7, 2010. Since then he has been held under house arrest, confined for seven years in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London while he was protected by the administration of former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, and jailed in London's notorious maximum-security Belmarsh Prison, where he is now.
If fully convicted of the Espionage Act charges, Assange—who fathered two children with attorney Stella Morris, whom he married last year, while holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy—could be sentenced to 175 years in prison.
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As AIPAC Boosts Israel Military Aid Package, AOC Says Group Is 'No Friend to American Democracy'
"It is past time for us to recognize how toxic of a presence AIPAC has been in our political system," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Nov 01, 2023
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday dismissed the latest political attack by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee—the powerful anti-Palestinian rights lobbying group—on a lawmaker who rejected legislation endorsed by the organization.
AIPAC, the New York Democrat suggested, has little credibility when it claims to fight for democracy and security in the U.S. by supporting Israel's violent policies in Palestine.
Ocasio-Cortez responded to a social media post by AIPAC, which backs both Democratic and Republican political candidates as long as they unquestioningly support Israel's policies—including the war it has waged against civilians in Gaza in retaliation for an attack by Hamas last month. The group criticized Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) for being the only Republican who voted against House Resolution 771, which stated that the U.S. stands "with Israel as it defends itself."
AIPAC also denounced Massie on Tuesday for announcing he would vote against a separate resolution, scheduled to be taken up by the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, to send more than $14 billion in aid, including military funding, to Israel. AIPAC said in support of the proposal that "the U.S. is stronger when Israel is secure."
"AIPAC endorsed scores of January 6th insurrectionists. They are no friend to American democracy," Ocasio-Cortez responded to the group's comments on Massie.
AIPAC in recent U.S. elections has spent millions of dollars to defeat progressive candidates such as Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner—both supporters of Palestinian rights as well as pro-democracy reforms in the U.S.—with mixed success.
The group has also backed more than 100 GOP lawmakers who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results in support of former Republican President Donald Trump.
Despite its claims that it aims to make the U.S. "stronger," Ocasio-Cortez said, AIPAC is "an extremist organization that destabilizes U.S. democracy."
Massie's objection to H.R. 771 differed from that of Ocasio-Cortez and eight other Democrats who voted against it. He said on social media that he objected to provisions called for in the resolution, including sanctions, foreign aid commitments, and a broad "open-ended promise of military support."
Ocasio-Cortez and several of the other Democrats who opposed the resolution have joined calls for a cease-fire as Israel has bombarded Gaza with airstrikes, killing at least 8,796 Palestinians so far.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), who backed the resolution and has not joined the call for a cease-fire, admitted that Ocasio-Cortez's comments summed up "how many feel about what AIPAC really is about."
"Rep. Mark Pocan is right," said Ocasio-Cortez. "It is past time for us to recognize how toxic of a presence AIPAC has been in our political system. They actively boost candidates who tried to overthrow the U.S. election and run smear campaigns on members of Congress who stand up for human rights. Enough."
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Republicans Tank Amendment to Ban US Sale of Cluster Munitions Worldwide
GOP members of the House Rules Committee instead advanced an amendment led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that would only ban the transfer of the weapons to Ukraine.
Jul 13, 2023
House Republicans on Thursday tanked a bipartisan amendment that aimed to ban the U.S. government from selling or transferring cluster munitions worldwide, instead opting to advance a GOP-led proposal that would only prevent the delivery of the widely prohibited weapons to Ukraine.
During a House Rules Committee meeting on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), all nine Republicans on the panel voted down a motion from Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) to allow a full floor vote on an amendment barring the U.S. from selling cluster munitions around the world—a proposal led by Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).
In its place, the rules panel advanced a far narrower proposal led by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). A summary of the amendment states that "no cluster munitions or cluster munitions technology shall be sold or transferred to Ukraine."
Massie claimed during Thursday's hearing that the narrower amendment would have a better chance of passing. The House is set to debate that amendment and hundreds of others on Thursday.
The Jacobs-Omar proposal—which had initially garnered support from a handful of Republicans, including Gaetz—did not specify any country, and its authors have made clear that they want a global ban on cluster munitions as the Biden administration moves to send the weapons to Ukraine as it fights invading Russian forces.
More than 100 countries, including most NATO members, have signed the United Nations Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, sale, or stockpiling of the weapons. Neither the U.S., Ukraine, nor Russia have signed the international treaty.
"We are going down a slippery slope where either this president or future presidents will feel that it is OK to be able to send these weapons to other countries in other very dangerous situations."
McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, expressed bafflement over the GOP's maneuver during Thursday's meeting, noting that the chairman of the Armed Services Committee and the ranking member of that panel both said they have no problem with allowing the Jacobs-Omar amendment to reach the House floor for a vote.
"I don't understand what the controversy is," McGovern said.
The anti-war group Just Foreign Policy suggested that the Republican decision to advance an amendment spearheaded by Greene was designed to "undercut" growing bipartisan opposition to the Biden administration's move to transfer cluster bombs to Ukraine.
Some prominent Republicans in the House and Senate, including Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), openly welcomed the Biden administration's approval of the munitions transfer.
Republican war hawks, Just Foreign Policy argued, "hope that having MTG lead the vote will reduce the vote total opposing Biden's transfer. They have several strong reasons to think so: Polls show she's deeply unpopular, she just got expelled from the Freedom Caucus, she burns bridges with anti-war Dems."
McGovern, who has previously introduced legislation to restrict the use and export of cluster bombs, said the Republican alternative to the Jacobs-Omar proposal "implies that we're OK with sending cluster munitions to other countries around the world" and would likely not gain enough Democratic support for that reason.
"Let's just all be clear: By the time the NDAA is debated in the House and Senate and goes to the president, these munitions will already have been delivered to Ukraine," the Massachusetts Democrat said. "So nothing we do here is going to stop the delivery of these weapons to Ukraine in the short run."
"But we are going down a slippery slope where either this president or future presidents will feel that it is OK to be able to send these weapons to other countries in other very dangerous situations," McGovern added. "It is not just about Ukraine. It's about sending them to any conflict in any country in the world."
McGovern ultimately suggested that the Rules Committee allow a full House vote on both the Jacobs-Omar amendment and the more limited Republican alternative, but GOP members objected.
Republicans on the committee also voted against allowing a House vote on Rep. Barbara Lee's (D-Calif.) amendment calling for a $100 billion cut to the Pentagon budget.
Correction: The vote on McGovern's motion took place in the early hours of Thursday morning, not Wednesday.
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