Controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange publicly promised last week he would surrender to extradition to the U.S. if President Barack Obama granted clemency to Army leaker Chelsea Manning.
Following Obama’s decision Tuesday to free 273 convicted criminals — which included the president commuting Manning’s 35-year prison sentence — all eyes have shifted to Assange.
Will Assange follow through with his Jan. 12th promise?
If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case https://t.co/MZU30SlfGK
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 12, 2017
The president decision to commute Manning’s sentence, lowering it to seven years and freeing her in May, will free her nearly three decades early. Manning has acknowledged leaking a trove of diplomatic cables and national security documents to WikiLeaks in 2010.
In a statement, Assange called Manning “a hero, whose bravery should be applauded.”
Assange went on to demand that the U.S. government “should immediately end its war on whistleblowers and publishers, such as WikiLeaks and myself,” but he made no mention of the Twitter pledge. His lawyer said he has been pressing the Justice Department for updates on an investigation concerning WikiLeaks.
Assange has been living inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than four years. The U.S. Justice Department, in refusing to turn over investigative documents sought by Manning under the Freedom of Information Act, has acknowledged that the FBI is continuing to investigate the publication of national security information on WikiLeaks arising from Manning’s disclosures.
“That investigation concerns potential violations of federal criminal laws, in the form of serious threats to the national security, and the investigation continues today,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a court filing last year. “From the terms of her request, it is clear that Manning seeks to obtain documents concerning that investigation.
In a statement Tuesday, a lawyer for Assange did not address whether Assange intended to come to the U.S.
“For many months, I have asked the DOJ to clarify Mr. Assange’s status. I hope it will soon,” Assange’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said in the statement. “The Department of Justice should not pursue any charges against Mr. Assange based on his publication of truthful information and should close its criminal investigation of him immediately.”
Another Assange lawyer, Melinda Taylor, suggested he wouldn’t go back on his word. “Everything that he has said he’s standing by,” she said in a brief telephone conversation with The Associated Press.