It was a bold ask given that Assange had published hundreds of thousands of secret documents and was arguably the highest-profile detainee in the world facing a U.S. government extradition request. By that point, the Justice Department had been engaged in a protracted fight in British courts to send him to the United States for trial.
This report is based on interviews with people familiar with the negotiations and overall case who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the process, as well as a review of court records. The releases prompted Trump to memorably proclaim during the campaign: “WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks.”
Within weeks, the department disclosed 17 other counts that accused him of violating the Espionage Act by obtaining and disseminating the secret records. The Assange team responded that it was open to exploring that possibility but had two lines in the sand about what a resolution would need to entail. He would not accept any additional prison time, nor set foot on U.S. soil given the anxieties shared by him and his supporters about what the American government might do to him.
Department officials who wanted an Assange felony plea ultimately signaled respect for his core demands by floating a concept in which he could enter the deal outside the 50 states, avoid additional prison and be released from custody in Britain, the person said. The U.S. provided those assurances. But Assange’s lawyers accepted only that he wouldn’t face capital punishment and said the assurance that Assange could “raise and seek to rely upon” the First Amendment fell short of the protections he deserved. Last month, a court held that he could appeal his extradition order after judges said the U.S. had given “blatantly inadequate” assurances.
That same day, his wife, Stella Assange, stood in front of a camera outside Belmarsh prison and recorded a video in which said she expected her husband to soon be at the end of his ordeal.The video was not released until almost a week later when Assange was in the air on his way to Saipan and after word of the plea deal had gotten out.
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