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President Donald Trump grabbed the headlines over the past week as he wielded his presidential powers to perform a number of pardons and commutations to mark his final month in office.
In light of the wave of orders, the president has faced increased pressure to stop the prosecution of Julian Assange with the president’s recent wave of pardon fueling rumors that he may intervene in the case.
Assange co-founded Wikileaks in 2006, a website that publishes leaked information and classified media provided by anonymous sources.
It rose to prominence in 2010 when it released sensitive military material passed to it by US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
He is currently being held at HMP Belmarsh in London with a judge who will decide on January 4 next year whether he should be extradited to the United States.
Those who support Assange see him as an activist for truth and free speech and the president faces new pressure to forgive him with a number of high profile figures renewing calls for clemency in recent weeks.
Assange’s defense team argued during its extradition hearing that the publisher faces a politically motivated lawsuit.
Among those who called on the president to forgive Assange were whistleblower Edward Snowden, actress Pamela Anderson and even prominent WikiLeaks victim Sarah Palin.
“Mr. President, if you only grant one act of mercy during your tenure, free Julian Assange. Only you can save his life. @realDonaldTrump, ”Snowden tweeted on December 3.
MP Tulsi Gabbard, who called for charges against Snowden and Assange to be dropped, echoed the same sentiments in November.
“Since you give people forgiveness,” she tweeted at the time. “Please consider forgiving those who, at the cost of great personal sacrifice, have exposed the deception and criminality of those in the Deep State.”
Some of the president’s allies have speculated that Mr. Trump might consider Assange’s case, amid continued and widespread speculation about who the president might choose to grant a pardon.
“For what it’s worth, I think the president probably wants to forgive him,” Fox News host Tucker Carlson said earlier this month in a conversation with Assange’s fiance Stella Moris, who urged Mr. Trump to release him.
“I think there are a lot of sinister people out there who don’t want forgiveness to happen. We will see what happens, ”he said.
U.S. Presidents traditionally issue a series of pardons when they leave office under powers granted in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, which states that the president “shall have the power to grant stays and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in the event of impeachment. ”
Mr. Trump officially steps down and loses his powers as president on January 20 when Joe Biden is inaugurated as the next president of the United States.
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