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The US may submit its #Assange appeal filing by Friday to meet its deadline, but one would expect a serious policy decision to be made by the new Attorney General who, once confirmed, can review the incredibly weak case against Assange in full before making a determination.
Reports are circulating that an interim spokesperson says the Biden admin will continue the Assange case. The incoming DOJ, whose Attorney General is yet to be confirmed, can drop the charges against Assange at any time, including after this Friday’s appeal deadline.
Trump’s outgoing prosecutor Zachary Terwilliger suggested to NPR last month that some government officials see the case as a waste of energy and resources, and that the Biden DOJ may not continue the prosecution. https://www.npr.org/2021/01/05/953280737/will-biden-doj-pursue-assange-extradition-outgoing-prosecutor-isnt-sure
Biden’s nominee to lead the new DOJ, Merrick Garland, has taken strong positions in defense of the First Amendment as a federal judge. When confirmed, he should end the prosecution of Julian Assange. https://www.rcfp.org/garland/
In 2013, former Obama-Biden DOJ spokesperson Matthew Miller told the Washington Post, “If you are not going to prosecute journalists for publishing classified information, which the department is not, then there is no way to prosecute Assange.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/julian-assange-unlikely-to-face-us-charges-over-publishing-classified-documents/2013/11/25/dd27decc-55f1-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/julian-assange-unlikely-to-face-us-charges-over-publishing-classified-documents/2013/11/25/dd27decc-55f1-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html
Multiple prosecutors in Trump’s Department of Justice had serious First Amendment concerns about the case, expressing strong disagreement with then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to prosecute Assange for publishing. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/some-federal-prosecutors-disagreed-with-decision-to-charge-assange-under-espionage-act/2019/05/24/ce9271bc-7e4d-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html
Transition officials have said they want to return to this sort of rational, depoliticized Justice Department. If President Biden wants to return to the Obama-era DOJ, rather than to further Trump’s agenda, the clear decision is to drop the charges. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/us/politics/julian-assange-indictment.html
