FOX News host Tucker Carlson took to his primetime show on Monday to call upon President Donald Trump to pardon Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as Trump enters his final full day in office.
Full Tucker Carlson Segment Calling For President Trump To Pardon Julian Assange
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"[Trump] can achieve a major victory for the principles that this country was founded on & that make it a good place to live."
"Make a statement in our defense, defend the Bill of Rights." pic.twitter.com/hQIkONpAgs
Carlson warned of the dangers of politicians in Washington, DC reaching a consensus on any position, arguing that consensus decisions reflect the interest of politicians rather than the broad and ranging opinions of voters.
"Institutional Washington is by far at its most dangerous when there is consensus, when it stops reflecting the will of the voters and starts defending its own interest with no opposition whatsoever," Carlson said, further asserting that there are no issues which unify the political class as much as opposing whistleblowers.
"Julian Assange, for example, he's rotting away in a prison in London right now. Why? he published information that the US government wanted to keep secret, not to protect us but to protect themselves," Carlson continued.
Carlson argued that Assange did not commit espionage nor did he hack any classified material, but "reported" on the government's actions. "This case is about criminalizing freedom of speech," Carlson asserted.
Carlson said that he is not defending Julian Assange, but rather free speech itself. "He reported things they didn't like, they threw him in jail."
He further compared Assange to John Kiriakou, a whistleblower who revealed that the US government was waterboarding prisoners of war. "You may support that or you may not, but if you're an American citizen who pays for all this stuff, why don't you have a right to know that?"
Kiriakou was originally recognized as a whistleblower until, according to Carlson, the Obama administration found a charge they could level against him. Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months in prison for passing classified information to a reporter, although the reporter never published the specific information he was convicted for, and ended up serving just over 23 months in jail.
"[Trump] should pardon Julian Assange, and he should pardon John Kiriakou," Carlson stated.
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