Julian Assange’s lawyer says US President Joe Biden could now drop the extradition case against the WikiLeaks founder without “political blowback” after an apparent show of support by political rival Donald Trump.
London-based human rights lawyer and Mr Assange’s legal adviser Jennifer Robinson told ABC’s Q+A program on Monday night she didn’t want to wait for the US election to see the case dropped.
“This is the time,” she said on Monday night.
Ms Robinson has been a long-time advocate for Mr Assange, who is now appealing against his extradition from Britain to the US to face 18 criminal charges of obtaining, receiving and disclosing classified information.
Mr Assange has spent five years in London’s Belmarsh prison since his 2019 arrest for breaching bail conditions.
Prior to that, he spent almost seven years in prison for taking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy.
(ABC QandA)
Last month, Mr Biden said he was “considering” Australia’s request to drop the case.
Meanwhile, Trump last week said he would give “very serious consideration” to a pardon for Mr Assange if he wins back the White House.
“What is really promising about this is the emerging bipartisan view about the problematic nature of this case and the fact that it needs to be brought to an end,” Ms Robinson told Q+A.
“Trump is saying he would consider dropping it so Biden won’t get any political blowback on making this decision, which is the right one.”
When asked which presidential candidate would best help Mr Assange, Ms Robinson showed no favouritism.
“Whichever president ends the 14-year persecution of my client for award-winning publications in the public interest,” she said.
“We want a resolution and we want one soon.
“It’s time for the United States to drop this. It’s time for President Biden to drop this.”
Trump ‘all over the place’ with stance on Mr Assange
Asked by Q+A presenter Patricia Karvelas if Trump could be taken “at his word” about his pardon comments, Ms Robinson expressed doubt.
“Trump has been all over the place from saying I love WikiLeaks to indicting WikiLeaks when he was on his way out of office,” she said.
“We sought a pardon and did not get one from the Trump administration.
“But of course, if we have an election and we end up with President Trump then we will absolutely be continuing our advocacy.”
It comes as a new Q+A/YouGov poll has found more than seven in 10 Australians support ending the extradition case against Mr Assange.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has lobbied for Mr Assange’s release, saying “enough is enough”.
Australia-US relationship ‘helps Assange’
A former senior White House staffer also told Q+A that Australia’s increasing importance to the US could help Mr Assange’s cause.
Kim Hoggard, who served in the administrations of Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said Australia was an important friend to the US.
“I know from my experience in government, Australia is a very important ally, Australia is considered in a very fond way,” she said.
“It’s a strong alliance, and so I took that to mean that this could happen.”
Ms Hoggard, who was a high-ranking official in the US State Department, also told Q+A that Mr Assange’s case points to “an awful lot of information in the US government that is classified that doesn’t need to be”.
“That is not healthy for democracy,” she said.
“So I think there’s definitely an argument to be made that the declassification, and various levels of classification, just aren’t necessary.”