WikiLeaks said that Julian Assange is confident of winning ‘any fair trial’ in the U. S. and indicated that the founder of the whistleblowing website would stand by all the promises he had made in return for clemency to Chelsea Manning, the former U. S. soldier who disclosed classified data relating to the Iraq War to the site.
On Tuesday, Manning’s prison sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama, raising questions over whether Assange would keep his part of a deal he proposed online, and agree to extradition to the U. S.
WikiLeaks has recently also been a thorn in the side of the Democrats in the U. S. by releasing embarrassing emails leaked from the Democratic National Committee that showed that the organization had favored candidate Hillary Clinton over her rival Sen. Bernie Sanders for the party nomination for the presidential elections. It also published mails from the account of John Podesta, chairman of Clinton’s campaign.
U. S. government officials including from the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have blamed Russia for orchestrating the leaks, though WikiLeaks has said it does not collaborate with states in the publication of documents.
Last week, WikiLeaks tweeted that if “Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case.” On Tuesday, WikiLeaks tweeted that Assange was confident of winning any fair trial in the US. “Obama’s DoJ prevented public interest defense & fair jury,” it added.
