President Donald Trump's term is nearly over. Come next month, President-elect Joe Biden will be the next President of the United States. But even these last few days, Trump is making headlines all over. From claiming election fraud to refusing to concede, we've seen it all. But there's an unexpected surprise from the outgoing president, whose final actions will be remembered by all. Only days after Edward Snowden had urged Trump to pardon Julian Assange, reports are coming in that the US President is actually doing it.
According to unconfirmed reports, President Trump is going to pardon Assange. The information comes from Pastor Mark Burns, who's believed to have had access to Trump in the past. Just as the news broke, people jumped to react if it was indeed true.
The White House or President Trump is yet to confirm the report. No statement or tweet in this matter has been released so far. Although unconfirmed, the idea of Trump mulling Assange's pardon is not entirely unbelievable. Trump had previously considered pardoning both Snowden and Assange.
Pardon Assange
Earlier this month, NSA whistleblower urged the US president to pardon Wikileaks founder. "Mr. President, if you grant only one act of clemency during your time in office, please: free Julian Assange. You alone can save his life," Snowden had tweeted on Dec. 3.
The authorities formally charged Assange for conspiring to leak US classified materials a month after his arrest. The WikiLeaks founder has been fighting the extradition case ever since his arrest and a ruling is expected on January 4.
The 49-year-old Assange, who spent almost seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, faces an 18-count indictment from US authorities accusing him of recruiting hackers to steal military secrets. Assange faces a prison term of up to 175 years in the US if he is found guilty over the publication of secret intelligence and military documents.
Besides Snowden, Australian MP George Christensen recently called on Trump to pardon Assange. Christensen, who is a member of the Liberal National Party who represents Dawson, Queensland, also launched a petition this week encouraging the president to pardon the journalist.
"I mean Hillary Clinton hates his guts, obviously, for exposing who the real Hillary was, and you've had a war on Assange by the Democrats and the deep state," Christensen claimed.
