Daniel Ellsberg Tells Court U.S. Is Out for ‘Revenge’ Against Julian Assange
LONDON—Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who exposed the underbelly of U.S. policy in the Vietnam War, has told a British court that the extradition of Julian Assange is part of an American effort to “crush” future whistleblowers.
Ellsberg said the U.S. wanted revenge against the WikiLeaks founder just like the Nixon administration and the CIA plotted vengeance against him for his part in the publication of the Pentagon Papers.
A British judge will rule on whether Britain can extradite Assange to the U.S. on 18 charges linked to the leak of hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010 and 2011. The 48-year-old Australian is accused of hacking and conspiring to obtain and disclose classified information under the Espionage Act.