The U.S. ambassador to Australia told a Sydney newspaper that “there absolutely could be a resolution” of the case just weeks after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Australia that the prosecution would continue, reports Joe Lauria.
Kennedy and Assange.
(Gage Skidmore/Flickr & David G. Silvers, Cancillería del Ecuador/Wikimedia Commons. Composite photo by Cathy Vogan.)
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
The U.S. ambassador to Australia believes a plea bargain could free imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, allowing him to serve a shortened sentence for a lesser crime in his home country.
Caroline Kennedy told The Sydney Morning Herald in a front-page interview published Monday that the decision on a plea deal was up to the U.S. Justice Department. “So it’s not really a diplomatic issue, but I think that there absolutely could be a resolution,” she told the newspaper.
Kennedy noted the firm comments by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on July 31 in Brisbane that,
“Mr. Assange was charged with very serious criminal conduct in the United States in connection with his alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of our country. … So I say that only because just as we understand sensitivities here, it’s important that our friends understand sensitivities in the United States.”
Despite Blinken’s strong words, Kennedy said: “But there is a way to resolve it. You can read the [newspapers] just like I can.”
Gabriel Shipton, Assange’s brother, told the Herald: “Caroline Kennedy wouldn’t be saying these things if they didn’t want a way out. The Americans want this off their plate.”
The newspaper said there could be a “David Hicks-style plea bargain,” a so-called Alford Plea, in which Assange would continue to state his innocence while accepting a lesser charge that would allow him to serve additional time in Australia. The four years Assange has already served on remand at London’s maximum security Belmarsh Prison could perhaps be taken into account.
Aerial view of HM Prisons Belmarsh (left) where Assange is being held, and HM Prison Thameside in Thamesmead West, in London. (Kleon3/Wikimedia Commons)
Going to the US for the Plea
David Hicks was an Australian imprisoned by the United States in Guantanamo for five years. He was ultimately released by the U.S., after pressure from the Australian government, when he agreed to an Alford Plea, in which he pled guilty to a single charge, but was allowed to assert his innocence at the same time on the grounds that he understood he would not receive a fair trial.
Hicks was returned to Australia where he served an additional seven months in prison. His conviction was then overturned on appeal when it was established that the charge of giving “material assistance to terrorists” was not yet a crime on the books at the time of his arrest.
The Herald quoted Don Rothwell, an international law expert at Australian National University in Canberra, as saying that Assange would have to travel to the U.S. in order to work out the plea deal.
“Everything we know about Julian Assange suggests this would be a significant sticking point for him,” Rothwell said. “It’s not possible to strike a plea deal outside the relevant jurisdiction except in the most exceptional circumstances.”
However, Bruce Afran, a U.S. constitutional attorney, told Consortium News‘ CN Live! webcast in May that it would indeed be possible for Assange to remain in Britain to work out the deal.
“Usually American courts don’t act unless a defendant is inside that district and shows up to the court,” Afran said. “However, there’s nothing strictly prohibiting it either. And in a given instance, a plea could be taken internationally. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. It’s not barred by any laws. If all parties consent to it, then the court has jurisdiction.”
Afran said that after seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and four years in Belmarsh, Assange “obviously would have a fear of coming to the U.S. And our prison system is often known for rough treatment in terms of management units and solitary confinement.”
Afran said it was understandable that Assange would not trust the U.S. to follow through on a deal if he went to America. “The U.S. sometimes finds ways to get around these agreements,” Afran said. “The better approach would be that he pleads while in the U.K., we resolve the sentence by either an additional sentence of seven months, such as David Hicks had or a year to be served in the U.K. or in Australia or time served.”
Shipton told the Herald that his brother going to the U.S. was a “non-starter.” He said: “Julian cannot go to the US under any circumstances.”
Afran said Assange would not necessarily have to plead to an espionage or computer intrusion offense. “He could plead simply to mishandling official information or even, in the worst case scenario, conspiracy to mishandle official information, a far lesser charge,” he said.
“That would also resolve the case and probably give the U.S. its satisfaction and would allow Julian essentially to hold his head up high after all these years,” said Afran. A conspiracy to mishandle defense information would amount to criminalizing the reporter-source relationship.
Watch Afran’s full remarks to CN Live! (3 min. 10 sec.):
Awaiting High Court Hearing
Afran also said that Assange’s side could initiate the plea offer.
On May 22, two days before President Joe Biden was due to visit Australia on a trip he then canceled, Assange lawyer Jennifer Robinson said for the first time on behalf of Assange’s legal team that they would consider a plea deal.
Robinson told the National Press Club in Canberra:
“We are considering all options. The difficulty is our primary position is, of course that the case ought to be dropped. We say no crime has been committed and the facts of the case don’t disclose a crime. So what is it that Julian would be pleading to?”
Assange remains in Belmarsh awaiting a final, 30-minute hearing before the High Court of England Wales, which is on summer recess until Oct. 1. Assange’s lawyers will attempt to reverse a decision by the High Court not to hear his appeal against the home secretary’s extradition order and against most of the lower court’s ruling in his extradition case.
That court in January 2021 ordered Assange released on health grounds and the conditions of U.S. prisons but sided with the U.S. on every other point of law. The U.S. then won its appeal before the High Court, which overturned the order to release Assange.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is due to visit President Joe Biden at the White House at the end of October at which time Assange supporters may hope that an arrangement to send Assange to Australia could be finalized.
But the High Court could convene before that. If it rejects Assange’s final appeal, he could be put on a plane to Alexandria, VA where he faces up to 175 years in a U.S. dungeon for publishing accurate information about U.S. war crimes and corruption.
Greg Barns, a human rights lawyer who advises the Assange campaign, told the Australian Associated Press that Assange had come between the U.S. and Australia as Washington gets Canberra’s cooperation to set up new U.S. military facilities in Australia as it ramps up pressure on China.
“It’s clearly a diplomatic issue because it has engaged the prime minister and the foreign minister – it’s not an ordinary, run-of-the-mill extradition case,” Barns said. “This matter has become a sticking point in the alliance,” he said.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and numerous other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @unjoe
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
If her father’s words, and his book Profiles in Courage mean anything at all to Caroline Kennedy, one thing that she can do, and that she really must do, especially being in the position that she is in, is to call out her country’s evil in its persecution of Julian Assange, and in its virtual ownership of Australia, and its trying to get Australia to go along with a possible war with China. Doing so would be an act of the courage which her father’s book was about.
Calling out when one’s country is doing something wrong is a patriotic act, and is often an act of courage.
Staying in her prestigious position as Ambassador, and not speaking out about her country’s wrongdoing, really indicates that she is more concerned about what her country can do and is doing for her.
Here is an update concerning International Affairs:
People who commit war crimes, get medals and promotions
People who report war crimes, get jail time, torture, and a short life
I do not want to live in the same world as Caroline Kennedy. She can go to hell.
Da da, da da da, dada. Da da, da da da, dada, dada, da, da, awh “Sweet Caroline” how she’s gone wrong, AGAIN! IMO, she’s “Yank’n our chain!” She’s “Fanning the Flames!” She’s $hill’n like a villain, pimping BIDENOMICS’ Demonization. Manipulation. Inflation. Deception. Destruction. Death. IMO, ALL the USG’s truth is one BIG F/LIE!
“Sweet Caroline” nka Ambassador to Australia after being booted from HER ambassadorship to Japan! Rahm Emmanuel replaced HER (Kennedy-Schlossberg) w/o pushback! Imo, Caroline Kennedy-Schlossberg is a true hawker.
IMO, the Ambassador is to PROTECT NOT PERSECUTE. Obviously, she’s been tasked w/effecting the propaganda. I do NOT trust HER, Afran, Biden-Harris, Blinken, Sullivan, Garland, KJP, BHO, DJT, et al. Everybody knows, the Kennedy’s-Afran’s resolution smells like a_ _ “You know the thing.”
Squawk Squawk. Squawk about it. All night talk about it, “So it’s not really a diplomatic issue, but I think that there absolutely could be a resolution,” she told the newspaper. ‘Despite Blinken’s strong words, Kennedy said: “But there is a way to resolve it. You can read the [newspapers] just like I can.”
“[NOT] to belabor the point;” BUT, puhleeze, specifics, WHAT Newspapers?
Not for nothing; but, in the case of the USG vs. Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, et al… “[NOT] a single mainstream media outlet is protesting against the flagrant violations of due process, human dignity and rule of law that have characterised proceedings throughout.
[NONE] of them has held the governments involved to account for their crimes and corruption;
[NONE] has had the courage to ask political leaders uncomfortable questions. They are a shadow of what was once the respected ‘fourth estate’.” NILS MELZER @ “Julian Assange, Unequal Before The Law”https://mondediplo.com/2022/08/12assange
Imo, Ambassador Kennedy-Schlossberg & Atty Afran oughta be calling on the USG’s Cabal of Criminals, Bush-Cheney, OhBama-Biden, Trump-Pence, Biden-Harris & their Boards of Executioners, to Step Up!!! “Do the right thing,” plead guilty by way of the Alford Plea?!? You who, Merrick Garland, “Book ‘Em!!!” Indict. Prosecute. Rid the planet of the rabid, right-wing, rat ba$tard, war mongering, killers in high places!!! All their truths are one BIG F/LIE!
The Ambassador & the heartless lawyer oughta hang their heads in shame! Asking Assange to cop an Alford Plea, so f/wrong!!! The RESOLUTION is: “Hands Off,” Julian Assange. STOP the persecution. STOP the extradition. PROTECT NOT PERSECUTE Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, Whistleblowers, Press Freedom. STOP the MADness (Mutually Assured Destruction). FREE, JULIAN ASSANGE! When Julian Assange LIVES FREE, “we” will all LIVE FREE!
HEAR! HEAR! “This matter has become a sticking point in the alliance,” [IT’S CLEARLY A DIPLOMATIC ISSUE] because it has engaged the prime minister and the foreign minister – it’s [NOT] an ordinary, run-of-the-mill extradition case,” GREG BARNS!!! TY. Keep It Lit!
Julian
Take the plea deal…say whatever they want you to say.
Get out of Belmarsh Prison and go home to your loyal wife and beautiful children.
You have done enough. You will be remembered forever as the hero that you are. Thank you
Other journalists must carry the torch now.
I agree – it is so easy for folks sitting in their easy chairs to spout off all this “Be brave, don’t give in, stand up for journalism, blah,blah, blah ” I wonder how many who write all this stuff would behave if they were in Assange’ shoes, and gone through what he has … He has done more than enough, suffered more than enough – he knows he is not guilty, the world pretty much knows he is not – what is to be gained by his dying in prison … His family needs him …
I do believe though that he should definitely not set foot in the US – an honorable man shouldn’t have to subject himself to the decay of a rotting country –
I suggest, for those who haven’t seen it – watch the David Hick’s video in the piece here on CN – another innocent man who – got to do home by pleading to a BS charge – so what if the US gets to put another notch in its “conviction record”, the man is home – and, ironically, this sort of “success” only impugns whatever integrity the US “justice system” may have left …
It’s too late for the US to show humanity it should try begging for forgiveness. Those Officials responsible are heading for an uncomfortably warm place and I am not talking about climate change… well for them I am (big smile).
You’re right.
The only outcome that the US is *open* to, is the one where Assange has been beaten into the kind of psychological submission that ensures that he (or anyone else) will desist from carrying out their so-called subversive actions in the future. A plea deal will ultimately confirm this acquiescence for them. Kennedy is merely the token *caring female* in this process – a *double agent*, one that the General Public will most likely fall for. Militantly begging the *authorities to do something* will never result in anything more than providing them with all the information they need to formulate their process of co-optation.
I will respond to this article the way I responded to Kevin Gosztola’s article on the same subject.
No, no, no. no! Julian Assange has committed NO CRIME! He has not been tried or convicted of any crime whatsoever. Making a plea deal would be like accepting as correct the accusation of the war criminals that journalism is a crime. It would mean saying that the powers trying to obliterate him are right. Can you not see the effect this will have on future attacks on journalists? And on the morale of every journalist everywhere, and of every person who has been fighting for Julian’s freedom on the basis that the war criminals are committing a crime against Julian? Julian Assange has never struck me as a person who would do this. Not after his whole life’s work has been to expose the crimes of the powerful. Why on earth would he surrender to them and give them an excuse to continue their persecution of truth tellers both past and future? It would mean his years of suffering were for nothing. Please, NO.
Without a doubt…it is the US that keeps committing crime after crime and yet…WHEN??? will it face the ICC??? How many more millions have to die because of US’ nefarious actions???
“And on the morale of every journalist everywhere, and of every person who has been fighting for Julian’s freedom on the basis that the war criminals are committing a crime against Julian?”
I believe Carolyn, whether this ends up as a “plea deal” or not, journalists now have the measure of the capabilities of the corrupt governments involved. I think a “plea deal” is immaterial at this juncture to the morale of journalists and ourselves.
I do understand and respect your point, but we are facing a practically invincible foe. And we have not spent 4 years in Belmarsh prison or years in the Ecuadorian embassy. At the end of the day, if it comes to a deal, then it is Julian’s decision, and i will respect whatever that may be.
Of course you are right in principle…but haven’t they made a sham of all that….
The criminals who did this to Julian, if they’re tired of torturing this heroic tower of a man, refuse to admit they are wrong on anything – when they are indeed wrong on everything. We know that.
They will extract one more humiliation from Julian and all of the people who deeply value his great courage and humanity who have no power to stop their evil as it pertains to Julian.
They fear us and hate us all. They are Bob Dillon’s “Masters of War”. They are nothing. But they crave the money and power to try to be “something”.
They have done everything to crush Julian and if they return him to us, they want to see that he has been taken off his pedestal and that’s why they do what they do.
His family needs him even more than we all need him.
This petty game they play will not soil what he has meant to us who live in this insane corrupt world they have made for us.
Given all that’s been done to him, let’s rise above their games to accept anything that will get him out of their clutches.
It is very sad that JFK’s own daughter is not a profile in courage. If she had any courage she would use the influence that she has, especially given her name, to unequivocally condemn the US persecution of Julian Assange, and its virtual ownership of Australia, and trying to draw Australia into going along with a possible war with China.
And she would probably want to resign her very prestigious position as ambassador to Australia. Or not have accepted such a position in the first place. I don’t think resigning her position would impose any hardship on her, with her family’s money.
It is “not a diplomatic problem” indeed, given that Kennedy and the US feel that they can instruct the Australians as to the specifics of Assange’s continued abuse.
This case cannot resolve without the removal of a whole lot of thugs from power.
I don’t believe anything the US government says. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Compare Caroline Kennedy’s 66 year old face with Joe Biden at 80. I’d like to congratulate his plastic surgeon(s).
Kennedy is ten years younger than I am and she looks ten years older. That has nothing to do with the matter at hand, but one wonders what stresses in her political life have aged her so. Too bad she doesn’t have a portrait in her attic.
Her father was assassinated, her only sibling, her younger brother, died in a plane crash, her mother is gone … She has a family, and i am quite sure she has taken pause periodically at the thought of what might happen if she was as “courageous” as some here might want her to be …. I suspect, all in all, she has done as much as she could – more than any of her critics could do …
She has earned every one of the wrinkles in her face, and frankly, I am a bit nonplussed that women would still be critiqued on appearance ….
I think that if she is not able to show the courage that I think that we have a right to expect her to show, being in her position as a representative of her country, and also as her father’s daughter and supposedly carrying out his legacy, then I think it would be best if she were in private life. She does not have to be an ambassador representing her country.
I will agree that I think it was uncalled for to critique her on her appearance.
Julian Assange did nothing wrong—however, Biden and Blinken are the ones that should be locked away. I’m sorry that Biden and Blinken could not be bothered—–BUT of what use are either of them anyway. How embarrassing that Biden and Blinken do not have a bit of humanity in either of them. America, sigh—-the land that became the home of the knave.
Plea deals such as the one being discussed here are proof no true justice exists in this country.
Make a plea to avoid dying in prison for committing an act that you have not been found guilty of simply to give the U.S. DOJ a club to beat someone else who is innocent with.
I agree completely with Jeff Harrison.
Thanks CN
Agreed – no true justice found in the US.
I’ll believe it when I see it. Remember, the United States is not agreement-capable. For all we know, Caroline Kennedy is dissembling, or she might simply be out of the loop.
Maybe a Kennedy will help bring Julian home. Nobody knows conspiracy and the power of the Deep State like they do. I bet Bobby, Jr. is encouraging her. A needed breath of hope for Julian and truth.
I hope Julian’s freedom is nigh.
I agree: Don’t trust the Americans.
Don’t let Julian be taken to the USA.
He’ll die there.
Australia: Make any further deals with the USA contingent on Julian’s being safely back in Australia FIRST.
They’re playing a game of good cop-bad cop. Kennedy is supposedly the good cop and Blinker the bad. But a plea deal would mean Assange would have to admit to a crime and agree to some other onerous, like perhaps ratting out sources or agreeing to be a good boy. But the U.S. would be the one that defines what being a good boy means. However, his only crime was practicing journalism, which the entire doesn’t like. Don’t do the deal Julian. It’s a trap.
I pray that this signals, finally, that Julian will be released from this long, cruel and unjust persecution. Thanks Mr. Lauria, for letting us know and for the bit of hope it provides.
yes, I think yours is the relevant point
Thanks to Julian for his sacrifices and to Mr Lauria for keeping Robert Parry’s work alive.
Truth and the courage to tell it mean everything in this sad world.
Don’t accept any agreement to guilt. He did nothing wrong. US UK all covering up war crimes guilt. She knows Bobby or Trump will drop charges and trying to make usa look kind after they drove him into ground and a basket case!
Once again, the US demonstrates that it is a society of men and not laws. Mr. Assange should never have been put through any of this. He is charged with violating a law that did not apply to him in the first place as he (a) wasn’t a US citizen, (b) wasn’t in the US. If the US thinks they can turn Assange into anything other than the martyr we have made him with this chicanery, they are bigger fools than I thought.
Bullshit. Assange did NOTHING wrong. America is a rogue nation.
More U.S. war against China is the political
cause for Julian’s possible release, certainly not a humane concern for
a truth-telling publisher and father of two children and husband
of a courageous wife.
Caroline Kennedy was just a child when her father was assassinated,
for seeking peace with the Soviet Union, her mother’s dress soaked in blood
that day in Dallas, 22 November 1963. Maybe this past dish is what the
“Americans want off their plate”.
Caroline Kennedy’s observation reflects the triumph of evil in the United States, the defeat of justice and even decency in favor of Orwellian authoritarian governance. Sure, anyone can avoid a trial and perhaps “reduce” draconian and illegal punishment by a government whose personnel are full of hubris (which pretty much defines the United State bureaucracy) by just surrendering. That happens to innocent people up and down the racial and class system in the United States which is why prosecutors can “brag” about 90%+ conviction rates justifying salary increases. Voters should be profoundly ashamed of having permitted this style of governance to take hold. And yes, shame on Caroline Kennedy for her observations, she certainly deserves to be part of this putrid administration.
I agree with much of what Guillermo Calvo Mahe writes here, except for blaming voters. About every 25 years or so, the us (l.c. sic) becomes so corrupt that there has to be massive change, according to two 90-somethings I interviewed about this for an oral-history project thirty-some years ago. One was a lawyer specialising in mediation. Another was a banker. The subject was 1920’s corruption, what I call Prohibition I. The us now has a massive underground, again, including some of the natural-capital persons. Some of the nc’s are too angry for polite society, as only Deng listened to them, back when they were warning about the current messes in the Global North. Caroline is softening things up for when the Global North has to cave completely.
I agree with you.
nah … that’s not justice, imo. australia is a us colony, mr assange wouldn’t be safe there either.
I keep my fingers crossed for Julian Assange. As for dealing with Americans…I wouldn’t trust them with a 10 ft pole.
Because they’d clobber you with it?
It is proven again and again all over the world…America can’t be trusted. Magnanimous words and the moment you turn around…in goes the knife.
Ha ha ha Carolyn. One of the comments i read this morning on a cartoon about the plea deal said: “175 years in the US?. I think i’d rather go to jail”.
The United States of Perpetual War will not withdraw an inch, voluntarily.
It doesn’t like people from it’s own country, let alone foreigners, exposing it’s horrific war crimes.
Remember how the despicable and vile Colin Powell was part of the cover up of the My Lai massacre which was later discovered and exposed by Seymour Hersh. (Powell went on to further develop his putrid lies when he told the UN that Iraq had WMD.)
The U.S, government (mic) cannot afford to alienate even a significant minority in Australia. With this matter on the front page in Australia, I suggest that if Assange isn’t released in a relatively short period (2 weeks max?) then the dangerous irrationalists in charge are doubly down.
Always remember you are dealing with the United Snakes of America. Look out for the forked tongue.
And also for the knife in your back.
Yep. I would not trust the American government if they told me the sky is blue and the grass is green. It’s a nest of war mongering, lying criminals.
Thank you.
Very well said Paul, for a nation that was formed out of a Just rejection of empirical colonialist tyranny, the citizens of the USA have allowed their nation to become a much more corrupt version of that which it once so correctly resisted. Speaking as a proud ancestor of a pre-revolutionary patriot, I regard Julian Assange to be as important to the present world circumstance as a modern version of a Thomas Paine; especially regarding his determination to resist tyranny, speak truth to power and wisely inform the public.
“The Public Good Before Private Advantage” EA
As Usual,
Thom Williams aka EA
Caroline Kennedy stated, “You can read the [newspapers] just like I can.”
Well, that’s fairly obvious Ms Ambassador; but three points:
• You wouldn’t be saying what you have unless it was cleared through the White House; so indeed, this could be the most promising signal to emerge from the White House.
• Second: which newspapers Ms Kennedy?
Some Australian corporate media have lambasted Julian, implied that he has significant character faults which mean that Wikileaks revelations are suspect, and co-operated and promulgated fabricated stories that largely contributed to Julian’s extended and cruel confinement.
Mind, those outlets are now hesitantly calling for Julian’s release in light that they themselves may face US prosecution over stories they have/will publish.
• “How Caroline Kennedy discovered her inner bogan in Australia: The US ambassador to Australia, a member of America’s most storied political dynasty, has embraced everything from sausages and surfing to sheep and “shitboxes”. August 11, 2023
That was the headline and byline for a story in SMH, that resulted when two of its journalists interviewed the Ambassador.
I really don’t know what to make of the poularisation in a fairly conservative newspaper about the US Ambassador to Australia – except to say that the SMH earlier this year ran stories talking up a war with China.
Pictures of Ms Kennedy ‘surfing’ doesn’t mean that we Australians should trust the Oval Office war-mongers.
hxxps://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/how-caroline-kennedy-discovered-her-inner-bogan-in-australia-20230809-p5dv56.html
hxxps://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-faces-the-threat-of-war-with-china-within-three-years-and-we-re-not-ready-20230221-p5cmag.html
hxxps://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/military-expert-warns-of-very-serious-risk-of-china-war-within-five-years-20230622-p5dim9.html
Further to the David Hicks case:
• It was a right-wing Australian government, led by John Howard, one of Bush 2’s staunchest allies, who negotiated the release of Hicks.
It pains many Australians to acknowledge that Howard did more for Hicks than the Albanese government has done for Julian.
(Although there was a decade of Liberal Party (ie right-wing) governments content to let Julian stew at the US’s behest).
• Hicks autobiography is a recommended read; Guantanamo: My Journey, 2010.
The first piece of good news that I have read in a long while.
WHAT?????
Great news. Let us hope though, the UK High Court see sense when they hear the last appeal and dispense with all this political drama.
A faint glimmer of hope? Thanks again to CN for keeping this story alive. Incidentally the Mail On Sundays’ Peter Hitchens devoted the majority of his column yesterday to the Assange case, one of a very few (only?) British journalists to campaign for Julians release.