Staff Reports
Republican firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and the notorious “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have shockingly teamed up to demand President Joe Biden stop the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and to drop all charges against him.
Republican firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and "Squad" member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) joined forces to tell President Joe Biden to end the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and drop charges against him.https://t.co/8VpxHjGglm
— Conservative News Daily (@ConservNewsDly) November 10, 2023
Greene and Ocasio-Cortez, along with 14 other lawmakers, sent a letter to the President, arguing that journalists have a duty to seek out sources and report government activities. They claim that prosecuting Assange could stifle the free press and criminalize standard journalistic practices.
Assange has been sitting in London’s Belmarsh Prison since 2019, waiting to be extradited to America for leaking classified U.S. military documents and diplomatic cables over ten years ago. The fiery bipartisan letter was signed by a colorful mix of 16 members of Congress, including the ever-controversial Rep. Rashida Tlaib and her Squad comrades, Ilhan Omar and Jamaal Bowman. Even some Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Thomas Massie, joined the plea to drop Assange’s charges.
The letter even warned that pursuing Assange’s prosecution, an Australian citizen who has never even set foot in the U.S., could damage America’s relationship with Australia. If Assange is convicted of the 17 felony counts of espionage and one count of computer misuse, he could face a hefty 10-year sentence.
Comically, the letter made the outraged claim that the Espionage Act of 1917 was never meant to punish journalists and whistleblowers for exposing government secrets. It hilariously insists that the law was only intended to go after government employees and contractors selling state secrets to enemy governments, not to punish those aiming to inform the public about issues the government would rather keep hush-hush.
The group even pointed out that the Justice Department under the Obama administration decided not to prosecute Assange in 2013 due to concerns about press freedom. They praised this decision while Biden was vice president, asserting that it avoided setting a dangerous precedent.
It seems Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have found common ground in their unlikely alliance, demanding that President Biden do away with the charges against Assange. It’s a rare moment of unity in the never-ending drama of Capitol Hill, and only time will tell how the Biden administration will respond to this spicy demand.
