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- Sarah Palin, who herself was a victim of WikiLeaks, has called for founder Julian Assange to be pardoned in a YouTube video.
- The former governor of Alaska said the WikiLeaks founder “deserves a pardon, he deserves all of us to understand more about what he has done in the name of real journalism.”
- In 2008, Wikileaks posted family photos, private messages and government emails from Palin’s Yahoo account.
- At the time, Palin questioned why he had not been pursued with the same urgency as Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders but later apologized in a Facebook post in 2017.
- Assange was arrested in April 2019 after seeking asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for over six years and is facing a potential extradition to the US.
- Trump is said to be considering pardoning him, calls for which have intensified ahead of Biden being sworn in as president, since he has previously referred to Assange as a “high-tech terrorist.”
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Sarah Palin, who was herself a victim of WikiLeaks, has called for Julian Assange to be pardoned in a YouTube video posted yesterday.
The former governor of Alaska begins the video asking for the pardoning of the WikiLeaks founder with: “I am the first one to admit when I make a mistake and I admit that I made a mistake some years ago, not supporting Julian Assange, thinking that he was a bad guy… that he leaked material and I’ve learned a lot since then.”
She said she believed that Julian did the world a favor by fighting for what he believed was right and “what was ultimately proven to be right.”
She added that he deserved a pardon and “all of us to understand more about what he has done in the name of real journalism and that’s getting to the bottom of issues that the public really needs to hear about and benefit from.”
In 2008, Wikileaks posted family photos, private messages, and government emails from Palin’s Yahoo account, weeks after John McCain named her his vice-presidential running mate.
At the time, Palin questioned why he had not been pursued with the same urgency as Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders.
However in 2017, she apologized in a Facebook post that read: "This important information that finally opened people's eyes to democrat candidates and operatives would not have been exposed were it not for Julian Assange." It closed: "Julian, I apologize."
In Saturday's YouTube video, Palin continued: "Some years ago I publicly spoke out against Julian and I made a mistake. I want more Americans to speak out on his behalf and to understand what it is that he has done, what has been done to him as he has been working on the people's behalf to allow information to get to us so we could make up our minds about different issues of different people.
"He did the right thing and I support him. And I hope that more and more people, especially as it comes down to the wire, will speak up in support of pardoning Julian. God bless him," she ends with.
Assange was arrested in April 2019 after seeking asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than six years. He is facing a potential extradition to the US, where he would face conspiracy and espionage charges, which carry a sentence of up to 175 years.
Trump is said to be considering pardoning him, calls for which have recently intensified ahead of Joe Biden being sworn in as president, since he has previously referred to Assange as a "high-tech terrorist."