Biden’s Shifting Approach on the Assange WikiLeaks Extradition Case

TIME

President Joe Biden told reporters on Wednesday that he was considering a request made by the government of Australia to drop the extradition case against Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who is currently imprisoned in the U.K.

Transcript

00:00Well, this is an encouraging statement from President Biden.

00:04I have said that we have raised on behalf of Mr Assange, Australia's national interest

00:11that enough is enough, that this needs to be brought to a conclusion and we've raised

00:17it at each level of government in every possible way.

00:23We'll continue to engage diplomatically in that in order to achieve an outcome that I

00:29believe Australians want to see.

00:31Well, this is an encouraging comment from President Biden.

00:36It's a complex issue there.

00:39The Department of Justice has responsibility here and the separation of powers that exists

00:44between the political wing, if you like, and the judiciary.

00:48So we have engaged very much diplomatically at all levels, though, including at the highest

00:55level of government.

00:56I've been personally engaged in this since I became Prime Minister, consistent with the

01:02statements that I made as opposition leader.

01:05I believe this must be brought to a conclusion and that Mr Assange has already paid a significant

01:13price and enough is enough.

01:16There's nothing to be gained by Mr Assange's continued incarceration in my very strong

01:23view and I've put that as the view of the Australian government.

01:27Well, we discussed the news from yesterday's afternoon that President Biden made this remark

01:39that his government was considering dropping the charges against him.

01:44Of course, he thinks this is a positive step and delighted by that remark, but with the

01:57hesitation of lack of supporting information.

02:02So he, as for the rest of us, we need to know more what this entails, what this consideration

02:10entails.

02:12So that, I hope, will come to the surface in the next couple of days and so we can make

02:19out what it really means.

02:21What we expect and what we want and what Julian, of course, wants that this case that should

02:28never have been started is brought to an end.

02:32President Biden and his administration, they have the opportunity to end this.

02:36After all, it's not their case.

02:39This is from Trump era.

02:41So why continue that legacy?

02:43It would be in line with the policy that was taken under the Obama-Biden administration.

02:51And why not continue that?

02:53This is such an attack on the rights of journalists that this should not take place.

03:02This should be dropped and we'd be freed from this attack on press freedom and, of course,

03:10the attack on freedom of Julian Assange, who has suffered a great deal, not just five

03:15years inside this prison, but before that, of course, arbitrarily detained in the Ecuadorian

03:21embassy for seven years.

Category

Transcript

Recommended