The White House announced that it was not involved in any way in the finalization of the legal case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
“The White House was in no way involved in the case of Julian Assange. Decisions made regarding sentencing and his repatriation back to Australia are a matter for the Department of Justice,” said White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby.
Assange pleaded guilty to violating the US Espionage Act and then walked free from a court on the island of Saipan, before heading to Australia.
Assange reached a deal with US authorities to plead guilty in exchange for not facing further prosecution. The US gave him credit for the years he spent in a British prison.
This ended a fourteen-year legal saga in which Assange spent more than five years in a British prison and seven years in an asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London fighting extradition to the US, where he was charged on 18 counts.
During the three-hour hearing, Assange pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and release classified national defense documents, but said he believed the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects free speech, also protects his activities.
