Julian Assange Deal Backed By Former FBI Director

Julian Assange's release from prison was the "right call", a former director at the FBI has said.

Andrew McCabe, who was deputy director of the bureau, said that it was time to put an end to the Assange "saga".

Further attempts to extradite the Wikileaks founder would be a mistake and could risk harming journalistic freedom, he added.

Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, has been engaged in a 13-year legal battle after publishing state department documents and videos leaked to the organization by U.S Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

The U.S. government long-hoped Assange would stand trial in an American court but it was reported Tuesday that the Australian had reached a plea deal.

His wife confirmed that he was on his way to the U.S. island of Saipan in the Western Pacific, where he is expected to plead guilty to one charge relating to the Espionage Act. Assange's sentencing is expected to allow him to then return to Australia, having already served 62 months in a UK prison.

"Don't get me wrong, I think Julian Assange did the wrong thing. Julian Assange hurt the United States government," McCabe told CNN.

"But some of what he did was very similar to the way that journalists conduct their business."

McCabe insisted that the charges of indictment and prosecution against Assange in the U.S were "entirely appropriate" and that "the facts here are not in dispute. He did what the law says you cannot do."

However, he added: "At this point, we are many, many years into this prosecution, and I think the fact that continuing to try to extradite him...really raises significant questions, concerns about what sort of precedent that result might have on legitimate journalistic activity."

In 2012, Assange was granted political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, hoping to avoid extradition to Sweden on 2012 charges of sexual assault, allegations which he denied. At the same time, an investigation by the FBI was focused on his release of the Manning documents.

U.S. officials argued that Assange has engaged in criminal espionage, and that his leaks had endangered American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In April 2019, Assange's asylum was revoked by the embassy, and he was arrested by London Metropolitan Police. A month later, Assange was indicted on 17 charges relating to the 1917 Espionage Act in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. These charges were expanded in June 2020 by a grand jury in the U.S.

Since then Assange's legal team has been attempting to block his extradition to the U.S., which he won the right to appeal in May.

McCabe called the plea deal "the right call at this point in this saga."

He warned that journalistic practices, such as reaching out to government officials prior to revealing sensitive information and giving the government an opportunity to object to publication on the grounds of national security, could be jeopardized.

"Going forward with this prosecution would run the risk of putting all of those processes and protections up for grabs.

"That could set a dangerous precedent going forward, and have a chilling effect on the journalistic news gathering process and how that impacts the First Amendment," he said.

McCabe served as deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation between 2016 and 2018, and as acting director between May and August 2017.

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