Pentagon Papers leaker adds support to Assange in court
LONDON — Daniel Ellsberg, one of the most famous whistleblowers in living memory, came to the defense of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday in his legal fight to avoid extradition to the United States from Britain, arguing that the pair had “very comparable political opinions.”
The 89-year-old, who is widely credited for helping to bring about an end to the Vietnam War through his leaking of the so-calledPentagon Papers in 1971, told London’s Central Criminal Court via a video link that there are echoes of his experience in the way Assange is being treated by the U.S. government.
He told the court that he concluded after his several meetings with Assange over the past decade that they shared the same aspirations, to shine a light on the “great lack of transparency” in decision-making circles in the U.S., especially when it comes to matters ofwar.
The cables relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that WikiLeaks published had shown, he said, that torture had become “normalized.”
“The American public needed urgently to know what was being done routinely in their name, and there was no other way for them to learn it than by unauthorized disclosure,” he said in his written testimony.
“I observe the closest of similarities to the position I faced, where the exposure of illegality and criminal acts institutionally and by individuals was intended to be crushed by the administration carrying out those illegalities,” he added.
U.S. prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Assange on 17 espionage charges, and one of computer misuse, over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret U.S. military documents a decade ago, largely around the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq a decade ago. The dump, similarly coordinated at various stages with some of the world’s leading newspapers, was arguably the biggest single leak since the Pentagon Papers four decades before. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
After leaking over 7,000 pages of classified documents to the press, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, Ellsberg was put on trial on 12 charges in connection with violations of the Espionage Act. They were punishable by up to 115 years in prison, but the chargeswere dismissed in1973 because of government misconduct against him.
Romney on Hunter Biden
probe: Republican Sen. Mitt Romney is sharply criticizing an investigation by his own party into Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son, saying it’s “not the legitimate role of government” to try and damage political opponents.
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, has said the committee will issue a report before the Nov. 3 election on Hunter Biden’s activities in Ukraine. Johnson, a close ally of President Donald Trump, is leading the investigation into Burisma, a gas company in Ukraine that paid Hunter Biden to serve as a board member while Joe Biden was vice president to President Barack Obama.
Most Republican senators have been on board with Johnson’s inquiry. But Romney, a frequent Trump critic, has repeatedly made clear he has concerns about politicizing the committee’s work.
TheUtah lawmaker, who was the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, had his strongest words yet for what he called the “BidenBurisma” investigation at a committee meeting Wednesday, saying that the inquiry from the “outset had the earmarks of a political exercise.”
California boat fire: Crew members of a Southern California dive boat told investigators they were not trained on emergency procedures before a fire broke out last year and killed 34 people, according to federal documents released Wednesday.
Investigators say the cause of the predawn blaze aboard the Conception remains undetermined, but a possible ignition point was phones and other electronics plugged into outlets.
The boat was carrying 33 passengers on a Labor Day weekend scuba diving expedition last year and was anchored near an island off the Southern California coast. The fire broke out while passengers were sleeping and quickly swept through the vessel.
All of the passengers and one crew member sleeping belowdeckwere killed.
Animal welfare law: Poland’s governing conservative party has come under fire from its coalition partners and the opposition alike over a draft law that would ban fur farms and the use of animals in shows and circuses, and restrict the ritual slaughter of livestock.
The proposed animal welfare legislation debated in parliament Wednesday has been strongly advocated by the ruling Law and
Justice party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who recently said it brings Poland in line with European Union standards. He added that “all good people” should back it.
But lawmakers from much of the political spectrum — including members of the ruling party’s two junior coalition partners — said the proposed lawposes a threat to the key animal farm industry and its thousands of jobs.
Poland is among Europe’s leading exporters of fox and mink fur, and of kosher meat.
T. rex up for auction: He weighed at least 7 tons and had eyes the size of baseballs. His bite could have crushed a car. He bore scars from fierce prehistoric battles.
All this could be yours for as much as $8 million.
The legend of the Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Stan is getting fresh life thanks to Christie’s. The auction house put his bones on display starting Wednesday through floor-to-ceiling windows at its midtown Manhattan gallery in advance of putting them up for auction.
The skeleton is being put upfor sale by the Black Hills Institute in South Dakota. The auction is set for Oct. 6.
Barbados seeks to drop queen: Queen Elizabeth II has eight realms in the Caribbean, but Barbados no longer wants to be part of that kingdom.
The former British colony once known as “Little England” announced it plans to replace the monarch with its own head of state in time for next year’s 55th independence anniversary.
It is Barbados’ second attempt in five years to replace the queen with a local leader, but some believe this time will be different, in part fueled by a recent push across the Western Hemisphere to bring down symbols of oppression.