Attorney General Merrick Garland and the U.S. Department of Justice
Journalists, legal scholars, human rights activists, and concerned citizens are calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Biden administration to put a stop to one of Donald Trump’s most shameful abuses of power.
Trump’s 2019 decision to prosecute publisher Julian Assange was an unprecedented attack on the First Amendment. Commentators decried Trump’s War on Journalism, calling the prosecution of Assange “the biggest threat to press freedom in generations” and noting that the reckless effort to extradite a foreign publisher could “destroy investigative journalism as we know it.”
Sadly, the end of Donald Trump’s presidency didn’t bring with it an end to the War on Journalism he started. Attorney General Garland is continuing to seek Assange’s extradition. The Biden administration’s continuation of Trump’s policy is a stark departure from the policy of the Obama-Biden administration, which determined that Assange’s activities were protected by the First Amendment.
The Obama-Biden administration determined that any prosecution of Assange would trigger “the New York Times problem” – essentially criminalizing routine journalistic practices used by The New York Times and every other major press outlet.
Attorney General Garland has dragged his feet long enough. It’s time to end this dangerous Trump policy. It’s time to end the War on Journalism. It’s time to drop the charges against Julian Assange.
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