Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper reacted to Julian Assange’s plea deal on Monday, saying the WikiLeaks founder has already “kind of paid his dues.”
Clapper — who served as director of national intelligence in 2010 when WikiLeaks published its trove of classified military and intelligence documents — said Monday that Assange’s plea deal “turned out very well.”
“I think the tipping point for this was his allegation of an espionage charge. I think the law enforcement community and the intelligence community wouldn’t have believed it without that,” he said in “Laura Coates live” from CNN.
“But he essentially served seven years in prison at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He was released and then the British arrested him. He served 62 months in prison. Tough time in London. So, he kind of, you know, paid his dues,” he added.
Assange has spent the last five years in a British prison to avoid extradition to the US and face charges related to the documents. He agreed on Monday to plead guilty to a criminal charge under the Espionage Act, in a deal that would allow him credit for time served in the United Kingdom while avoiding prison time in the United States.
Assange was indicted on 18 charges, including 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer misuse, following the release of confidential documents.
Clapper said that while he thinks Assange has served his sentence, people shouldn’t think it’s “right” to reveal confidential information.
“I think another issue here, speaking on behalf of the Intelligence Community, is that you can’t have a system where people unilaterally decide, well, I just think it’s okay to expose all this classified information when they make a commitment to protect you. That, to me, is a very important principle to keep in mind here,” he said.
“But again, where I started, I think justice has been served,” he added.
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