In June 2024, after fourteen years of house arrest and incarceration, Julian Assange, the Australian journalist the CIA had planned to kidnap or kill, was finally released from the UK’s top security Belmarsh prison.
Years of campaigning by his family and Australian politicians from across the political spectrum had finally paid off: Assange’s plea bargain with the US Department of Justice produced the legal deal of the century. Instead of serving a possible 175-year jail sentence, Assange walked free.
What changed former US President Joe Biden’s mind after years of appeals and hearings? When WikiLeaks revealed evidence of American war crimes in Iraq, Biden had called Assange a ‘high tech terrorist’. Why did Biden now believe the time was right to end the pursuit and to cut a deal?
Andrew Fowler takes us inside the negotiations with the White House, revealing a startling story of false hope, courage, resolve and the extraordinary resilience of the person Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg called the Most Dangerous Man in the World.
