Speaker 1: From the Skying Center. This is Paul Murray Live. We
Speaker 1: may hear the first words from Julian massanj after returning
Speaker 1: to Australian soil in the next couple of minutes and
Speaker 1: you will see them here on Sky News. As you know,
Speaker 1: he has landed back in Canberra, back in Australia, the
Speaker 1: first time in Australia. I understand in the best part
Speaker 1: of fifteen years, and certainly we know all of the
Speaker 1: legal dramas, all of the up and downs that have
Speaker 1: taken place tonight. I don't want to spend a couple
Speaker 1: of seconds not focusing on the good go bad guy
Speaker 1: part of this, but about how the perceptions of this man,
Speaker 1: his organization, his movement, his distrust of institutions has changed
Speaker 1: over the years. Now, as you know, he was greeted
Speaker 1: by jeers from supporters. He was able to physically re
Speaker 1: embrace his wife as a free man. And again we
Speaker 1: are expecting comments from mister Ossange and his representatives, his
Speaker 1: family who are in Canberra with him. That will happen
Speaker 1: live the next couple of minutes. As soon as that
Speaker 1: starts to get close, you will start to see that
Speaker 1: at the bottom of your screen will of course interrupt
Speaker 1: every and anything we're doing, because that is the big
Speaker 1: and breaking news that literally is making worldwide headlines tonight.
Speaker 1: Now forgive me for finding a small moment of mirth
Speaker 1: inside this giant news story. And it was, of course,
Speaker 1: when Juliana Sange was appearing in an American court in
Speaker 1: an American territory just north of Guam. Now we were
Speaker 1: told the only person who was flying from the United
Speaker 1: Kingdom to this territory was going to be Stephen Smith,
Speaker 1: a representative of the government in London. But you may
Speaker 1: well have noticed that, I'll make Kay Rudd, the ambassador
Speaker 1: of Australia to the United States, popped up and well
Speaker 1: he's stuck to him like glue. Not just because he
Speaker 1: wanted to be with a man who has supported for
Speaker 1: a long period of time. I'm not going to pretend otherwise,
Speaker 1: but also because there was one or two cameras around
Speaker 1: and ka Rud saw this was the moment where he
Speaker 1: could get himself back into that into national spotlight. Now
Speaker 1: I don't know what happened, whether he left back and
Speaker 1: flew back to the mainland, or whether he was waiting
Speaker 1: on the plane with everyone else. We'll all find out
Speaker 1: again as the night rolls on. But there are a
Speaker 1: couple of fascinating things to see about the what's next
Speaker 1: about Julia Massange now obviously time with family, a break
Speaker 1: all the rest of it. Does he go back to
Speaker 1: the central point of Wiki leaks and their efforts that
Speaker 1: got him into trouble in the first place, or does
Speaker 1: he have a political future in Australia. Now, the Senate
Speaker 1: is a place that is known to Juliana Massange because
Speaker 1: he's already run for it. And what a difference the
Speaker 1: best part of a dozen years makes. It was back
Speaker 1: in twenty twelve when Julian Massange tried to join the
Speaker 1: Senate as he ran for a seat in Victoria, as
Speaker 1: I say, in the twenty and twelve election. Now, what
Speaker 1: will be interesting here is that if he wanted to
Speaker 1: go for a political future, he would of course get
Speaker 1: something that is a rare privilege, but an important privilege
Speaker 1: for people who want to say whatever they want and
Speaker 1: be free of any consequences, and that is parliamentary privilege.
Speaker 1: Down the track this next election, the one after that,
Speaker 1: in five elections time, who knows whether that's what Julian
Speaker 1: Assange is going to end up doing or want to do,
Speaker 1: whether he can do it from a state with a
Speaker 1: larger population, or he can do it from a place
Speaker 1: that's probably even more favorable to his actions and to
Speaker 1: where he is tonight, and that is literally the place
Speaker 1: he is tonight, the Act. Don't forget they are about
Speaker 1: to be changes to the number of senators that will
Speaker 1: expand the number of senators, meaning it won't just be two,
Speaker 1: but it'll be four that will be coming from the
Speaker 1: Act and the Northern Territory. Is this a path to
Speaker 1: his future? We will all learn together. But again tonight,
Speaker 1: I want to take a couple of seconds, after this
Speaker 1: press conference has taken place, to not focus on the
Speaker 1: good go bad guy, but how things have changed, how
Speaker 1: dramatically things have changed, not just about how people perceive
Speaker 1: Julian Massange, but the battle around information, about which side
Speaker 1: of the information game is too big to defy or
Speaker 1: too big to ignore. It's an interesting chat and we'll
Speaker 1: have it in a couple of minutes time. But of
Speaker 1: course the Prime Minister is owning this decision as one
Speaker 1: that is of course only possible because of his own
Speaker 1: efforts with President Joe Biden and a series of people
Speaker 1: underneath him. Yes, this is a significant decision which is
Speaker 1: only made possible because of Frankly, this combination of Prime Minister,
Speaker 1: Foreign Minister and American ambassador. And the Prime Minister is
Speaker 1: not hiding from it. In fact, he was there when
Speaker 1: the country was watching Assange getting off the plane just
Speaker 1: before the foot he started.
Speaker 2: And the objective here was to conclude these matters. They
Speaker 2: have been concluded. They've been concluded in a way that
Speaker 2: has achieved the outcome that was sought, which is Julian
Speaker 2: Assange is now home here in Australia.
Speaker 1: The Prime Minister also very clear that this will be
Speaker 1: one of the significant achievements of his prime ministership, regardless
Speaker 1: of how long it goes.
Speaker 2: He expressed his thanks to what he described as a
Speaker 2: diplomatic a team. When I spoke about the role that
Speaker 2: Kevin and Stephen have been able to play. Kevin Rudd
Speaker 2: worked very hard, as did Stephen Smith, as did the
Speaker 2: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as did the Chiney
Speaker 2: generalize did others as well.
Speaker 1: All right, in the battle in and around which side
Speaker 1: governments for whether they fall on the diplomatic side the
Speaker 1: national security side. Very obviously they fell on Assner's side
Speaker 1: and pushed for this outcome. Again. In the next couple
Speaker 1: of minutes, we will hear from potentially mister Assarne himself,
Speaker 1: but certainly people are representing him. You'll hear all of that.
Speaker 1: He on Skyine. He's in a moment or two his time.
Speaker 1: But first let me try and jam in the rest
Speaker 1: of the day's news because it is big. In fact,
Speaker 1: the biggest news story in Camber today was not the
Speaker 1: arrival of Julianus Arrange, even though that will be considered
Speaker 1: the bigger news. The bigger news is that inflation went up. Now,
Speaker 1: this has serious consequences. Now, we've been told by the
Speaker 1: Prime Minister and the Treasurer when they were putting together
Speaker 1: and selling their federal budget that the decisions that they
Speaker 1: were announcing at the start of May were going to
Speaker 1: have little to know, in fact, the opposite effect on
Speaker 1: inflation than what actually happened in the month after they
Speaker 1: announced the budget, which was that inflation has gone.
Speaker 3: Up, that our responsible and methodical and measured approach to
Speaker 3: the budget is keeping pressure off inflation. Our responsible and
Speaker 3: methodical and measured approach to the budget is keeping pressure
Speaker 3: off inflation. Their budget will put downward pressure on inflation.
Speaker 3: The budget will put downward pressure on inflation, not upward
Speaker 3: pressure on inflation.
Speaker 1: But as I say, the reality of what has been
Speaker 1: announced today is that inflation has gone back up. Remember,
Speaker 1: two to three percent is what the Reserve Bank wants
Speaker 1: it to be, and that's when they start considering cutting
Speaker 1: interest rates. It got down into the mid threes. But
Speaker 1: now we're back up over the falls. So if four
Speaker 1: percent was the average, have a look at all of
Speaker 1: the things that were above average in the past month,
Speaker 1: tobacco and tobacco taxes, which are part of the basket
Speaker 1: of goods under which they decide whether inflation is going
Speaker 1: up or down and whether or not there has to
Speaker 1: be a response Ya the Reserve Bank, Well, that's fairly obvious.
Speaker 1: That goes through the roof petrol geez, who's been talking
Speaker 1: about petrol day in, day out, week in week out,
Speaker 1: and how the government is not going to touch anything
Speaker 1: to do with it, not just the commodity, but the
Speaker 1: taxation on top of it, insurance anyone who's tried to
Speaker 1: ensure their car, boat, house, all the rest of it.
Speaker 1: You know, it's gone up rent again, Alcohol, tobacco as
Speaker 1: a combination electricity. Now we were being told that power
Speaker 1: bills were starting to go down. No, all it's about
Speaker 1: to happen is from July one, there'll be tenty five
Speaker 1: dollars a month from mansions to one bedroom units that
Speaker 1: we will all wait, watch and see together. Health, housing, education,
Speaker 1: people buying new houses. Transport again, not just what is
Speaker 1: happening when it comes to the cars we drive, but
Speaker 1: to all other forms of it. And fruit and vege.
Speaker 1: Now fruit and vege was actually going backwards when it
Speaker 1: came to inflation. Prices had dropped, but there had been
Speaker 1: quite a significant change in the past month. When having
Speaker 1: to own this today, the man who was saying that
Speaker 1: his policies were doing the exact opposite of what they
Speaker 1: were doing, Grim Jim said this today.
Speaker 3: And it's not unusual around the world in countries where
Speaker 3: inflation peaked higher and earlier than it did here in Australia.
Speaker 3: It's not unusual, particularly with these more volatile monthly figures,
Speaker 3: for the number two bounce around and zigzag on the
Speaker 3: way down.
Speaker 1: Now part of the problem, of course, with ongoing inflation
Speaker 1: and inflation going the opposite direction of the two to
Speaker 1: three percent we're now at four percent of whether it
Speaker 1: reserve wants it to go is what the Reserve Bank
Speaker 1: will do. Now, Remember this government has fiddled with the
Speaker 1: way that the system works where we don't have monthly meetings.
Speaker 1: There's one every six ish weeks. But certainly at the
Speaker 1: next meeting, every indication is that the numbers were remain
Speaker 1: the way they are. With a bunch of other inputs,
Speaker 1: we're probably going to get a dam increase, which is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Of course, of the last meeting that just took place
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, the report was that the
Speaker 1: Reserve Bank didn't even consider cutting rates. In fact, there
Speaker 1: was a discussion held about whether they should go up.
Speaker 1: Make no mistake the information that took place today, the
Speaker 1: inflation number that appeared today makes the case towards an
Speaker 1: interest rate increase. Now, since this government came to power,
Speaker 1: there have been twelve interest rate rises. There was one
Speaker 1: prior to that. But the difference between May twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two and today, and I've shown you this stat how
Speaker 1: many times fourteen and a half thousand dollars people are
Speaker 1: trying to pay off a loan of five hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars have had to fined twenty one thousand, if it's
Speaker 1: seven hundred fifty thousand dollars, or if for million dollars
Speaker 1: and above. Clearly the numbers go higher the more you
Speaker 1: go twenty nine thousand dollars you've had to find that
Speaker 1: you did not have to pay in May of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two. The immediate response to these numbers is not if,
Speaker 1: but when. Unbelievably, now we are talking about an increase
Speaker 1: to interest rates. Now we had thought there was some
Speaker 1: level of tapering off and maybe going down. But if
Speaker 1: inflation keeps going up these numbers, will they continue to
Speaker 1: be high? Can Stars Steve, one of their economists, says,
Speaker 1: with scared evidence that inflation is moving towards the target ban,
Speaker 1: the Reserve Bank will feel uncomfortable waiting for three months
Speaker 1: for the following release of quarterly CPI and they will
Speaker 1: surely lift rates, repeat, surely lift rates in August. The
Speaker 1: risk of baked in inflation expectations are too high now. Amazingly,
Speaker 1: despite this being the actual fact, the Prime Minister spoke
Speaker 1: to his MPs today and trying to rev up those MPs.
Speaker 1: He told them to go back into the streets and
Speaker 1: argue only cost of living, that this government is doing
Speaker 1: everything it can possibly do on cost of living, despite
Speaker 1: the fact that we have charted Uphill and Downdale on
Speaker 1: many many elements of detail, why that is not actually
Speaker 1: the case. And of course, amazingly, the very same people
Speaker 1: who are going to be telling you it's all about
Speaker 1: cost of living are the same people who got a
Speaker 1: pay rise last week. The Prime Minister is now up
Speaker 1: to six hundred thousand dollars. Ministers their way over their
Speaker 1: mark as well, and of course the Government General beast
Speaker 1: on seven hundred thousand dollars. Now as we speak, as
Speaker 1: I say, we're standing by to find out what is
Speaker 1: about to happen here, which is a hotel in Caner.
Speaker 1: Let's take the wide shot if we can, guys, because
Speaker 1: as you can see, the preparation is there.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: Wiki Leaks are trying to appeal for people to help
Speaker 1: try to raise the best part of I think it's
Speaker 1: seven hundred and fifty thousand Australian dollars, a little less
Speaker 1: in US dollars because the Australian government is the one
Speaker 1: who paid for the private jet and now WikiLeaks have
Speaker 1: to pay back the Australian government, presumably the press conference
Speaker 1: that is being used that is about to begin in
Speaker 1: a moment or two time. You can see all of
Speaker 1: the media ready as they'll ever be. I'm seeing multiple
Speaker 1: camera angles here of the hotel, everything from the driveway
Speaker 1: where he will probably be arriving in moments, the door
Speaker 1: that he will be going through where there are Greens,
Speaker 1: senators among others that are waiting to welcome him into
Speaker 1: the room. And then of course those microphones where presumably
Speaker 1: we will hear from Julianasange. If not, we may well
Speaker 1: see him, but hear from his family members. We just
Speaker 1: don't know exactly where it's going to be, but you
Speaker 1: can see QR codes and all the rest of it.
Speaker 1: This is an opportunity to get the word out to
Speaker 1: try to raise money to do their best to pay
Speaker 1: back seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That's what it
Speaker 1: costs to get a private jet to fly you from
Speaker 1: the UK to an American territory and then to Australia.
Speaker 1: More in moments time. As I say, I'm seeing a
Speaker 1: lot of movement in and around this wholeel, tell I
Speaker 1: won't know exactly what the hotel is for of your
Speaker 1: security reasons but yeah, we will get some moments there,
Speaker 1: so I can quickly jump into another topic here, which
Speaker 1: is the media, of course, was rather excited about telling
Speaker 1: us that there was a Labor senator who voted against
Speaker 1: the Labor Party about this time yesterday. Labor Senator Fatima
Speaker 1: Payman faces expulsion from the party tonight after crossing the
Speaker 1: floor and voting to recognize the state of Palestine. One
Speaker 1: of his senators has crossed the floor to side with
Speaker 1: the Greens. The Labor Senator Fatima Payman has crossed the
Speaker 1: floor of Parliament to vote with the Greens on a
Speaker 1: motion to recognize the state of Palestine. Well, who knew
Speaker 1: you want an issue such as Palestine Israel? But certainly
Speaker 1: when it comes to punishment for those who vote against
Speaker 1: the government, we have to bring out the old each way, Alba,
Speaker 1: you know the very expensive graphic that we spent minutes
Speaker 1: thinking about building. That's because, surprise, surprise, one thing was
Speaker 1: said yesterday and another thing happened today. Now briefed out
Speaker 1: to the media last night was this expectation of what
Speaker 1: was going to happen to the senator. Remember, the first
Speaker 1: senator to vote against government since the mid eighties. There
Speaker 1: is no mandated sanction in these circumstances, and previous caucus
Speaker 1: members acrossed the floor without facing expulsion, the expectation being
Speaker 1: that there would be no punishment whatsoever. As I said,
Speaker 1: quick chick, if the history books tells us the last
Speaker 1: time a Labor person voted against their own government while
Speaker 1: they were in government was way back in the era
Speaker 1: when Bob Hawk was the Prime minister, and that was
Speaker 1: I think, I said last night nine to eighty six.
Speaker 1: I apologize. It is nineteen eighty eight. So the expectation was, well,
Speaker 1: we can't possibly do too much here because if we
Speaker 1: annoy her, she may end up leaving the party, going
Speaker 1: into the going into the hands of the Greens. If
Speaker 1: that's the case, there could be a flow on effect
Speaker 1: when it comes to Islamic votes. Well, today we found
Speaker 1: out what the serious punishment was going to be for
Speaker 1: what was taking place. Well, guess what. Here is the
Speaker 1: punishment that she has received for being the first person
Speaker 1: for the Labor Party to vote against the government since
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 2: I met with Senator Punparly today. She will not be
Speaker 2: attending the Labor Caucus for the rest of this session.
Speaker 2: What I do as showed leadership for our United team.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, what a punishment when the punishment could be
Speaker 1: you're booted out of the Labor Party. Because the Senate
Speaker 1: is so tight her number would be needed to still
Speaker 1: pass anything. They don't want to raise her profile other
Speaker 1: than what it currently is, not even the slap on
Speaker 1: the wrist. I think for most people they would consider
Speaker 1: not having to go to group work meetings as hardly
Speaker 1: a punishment. But thanks very much for the day off.
Speaker 1: Her punishment will be one meeting long. It will take
Speaker 1: place next week and that will be it. However, the
Speaker 1: Greens wanting to try to force the scenario where she
Speaker 1: votes the same way again and then the punishments keep
Speaker 1: upping until she's either booted or she leaves the party.
Speaker 1: Thus the flow and effects of more Islamic votes or
Speaker 1: certainly pro Gaza votes making their way towards the Greens.
Speaker 1: So watch this space. I think there's going to be
Speaker 1: fair amount on that in the next sitting week. There's
Speaker 1: another week to go in federal Parliament. Meantime, some eager
Speaker 1: EIDE people have noticed, well, okay, if you can cross
Speaker 1: the floor and all you do is miss one meeting,
Speaker 1: perhaps there's an opportunity when it comes to things other
Speaker 1: people in the Labor Party believe. Pettervan Onnsulin, running in
Speaker 1: the Daily Mail Today, interestingly noted what Labour MPs really
Speaker 1: think about nuclear power but are too afraid to say
Speaker 1: in public. At least two Labor MPs think that the
Speaker 1: Commonwealth legislative ban on nuclear power plants should be removed,
Speaker 1: telling the Daily Mail Australia that or is stupid, unnecessary
Speaker 1: and out of date. The MPs indicated that they would
Speaker 1: even be willing to cross the floor so to pull
Speaker 1: a fatima if they will and support a coalition move
Speaker 1: to lift the band if the Prime Minister Anthony Abernezi
Speaker 1: were to guarantee they wouldn't face sanctions for violating party rules.
Speaker 1: So put simply, if it's good enough for her, it's
Speaker 1: good enough for us. Literally, that's what the quote says.
Speaker 1: If it's okay for her to do it, then would
Speaker 1: didn't it be okay for the rest of us to
Speaker 1: exercise our conscience on other issues? This is the problem
Speaker 1: in terms of the party discipline stuff. Now in the
Speaker 1: Liberal Party they don't have this rule, and the Labor
Speaker 1: Party they do, yet they will selectively enforce it. Depending
Speaker 1: on what the political consequences are. One rule for one run,
Speaker 1: rule for everyone else. It's kind of a perfect embodiment
Speaker 1: of the way this government works.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: We shouldn't be afraid to left the nuclear ban, says
Speaker 1: one of these people, and they should do so soon.
Speaker 1: Championing lifting the band would be political suicide. So no
Speaker 1: thank you, says another MP when asked about it. In
Speaker 1: terms of the preparation of this story. Meantime, as we
Speaker 1: stand by for this conversation, which can be taking place
Speaker 1: a couple of moments time, I'm just watching the latest
Speaker 1: live pitches that are coming to us from canber It's
Speaker 1: the same in terms of the lectern, but more people
Speaker 1: are moving their way in. Rob is there. I noticed Cameron,
Speaker 1: who's worked with us for some time. He's there to
Speaker 1: cover the event, along with many other people inside the
Speaker 1: news ecosystem of Canberra. I'm looking at the standby pictures
Speaker 1: as well of people around the doors. So everyone's in
Speaker 1: place and will wait and see what is taking place.
Speaker 1: In moments time. I'm just bouncing in and out because
Speaker 1: I want to check as much as you so I
Speaker 1: can see whether I've got enough time to quickly squeeze
Speaker 1: another point in which I will now do this time
Speaker 1: it is about one of the consequences of the COVID lockdowns,
Speaker 1: the COVID lockdowns that so many want us to forget about,
Speaker 1: that we will not have a royal commission into despite
Speaker 1: the fact that every single person who died alone and
Speaker 1: the people whose family were left behind, all of those
Speaker 1: people deserve that royal commission. But we know it's not
Speaker 1: going to happen. Why because they'd have to go after
Speaker 1: some of the disastrous decisions of the States, including this decision.
Speaker 1: At the time that the North Faced Man was giving
Speaker 1: us daily press conferences, collective surgery other than four category
Speaker 1: one and the most urgent category two patients will be
Speaker 1: suspect bended forth with now. At the time, we said
Speaker 1: that this was a disgrace because many people who have
Speaker 1: so called elective surgery are people who have basically anything
Speaker 1: but life saving surgery. Now, this can be the most
Speaker 1: serious things which are borderline touch and go through the yes,
Speaker 1: cosmetic procedures, but the extreme majority of people with so
Speaker 1: called elective surgery, they need it because they're in pain,
Speaker 1: because they will get sicker the longer that they haven't
Speaker 1: been able to have it. We argued against this at
Speaker 1: the time, but we all know anything Dan said was
Speaker 1: the law and that was the way it was. Well, surprise, surprise.
Speaker 1: When you turn around and delay for a couple of
Speaker 1: years the number of people who can have so called
Speaker 1: elective surgery, the lists blow out. These are the latest
Speaker 1: numbers which come from the Stratian Institute of Health and
Speaker 1: Welfare that just in the financial year twenty two to
Speaker 1: twenty three, seven hundred and thirty five thousand people ended
Speaker 1: up having their elective procedures, but another a one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty five thousand people were added to the waiting lists. Now, amazingly,
Speaker 1: we've had to get a story out of Victoria today
Speaker 1: that tells us that elective surgery waiting lists are set
Speaker 1: to balloon. Why because of budget decisions have been made
Speaker 1: by the same government of which Andrews was a leader.
Speaker 1: But of course now is he just goes off to
Speaker 1: the lifetime pension, he gets the Gold Medal for services
Speaker 1: to public health. But the reality was while he was
Speaker 1: campaigning in hospitals of the last state election, just like
Speaker 1: when it came to the Commonwealth Games, that was all
Speaker 1: the performance because the reality was that there are hospitals
Speaker 1: which are now seeing things like anetheists having their contracts
Speaker 1: cut because there's no money to pay for them. No Aethecists,
Speaker 1: of course, no surgery, no surgery, Longer waiting lists, longer
Speaker 1: waiting lists, more pain. More pain equals more sickness. We
Speaker 1: read here from today in the age doctors worn elective
Speaker 1: surgery lists will balloon due to budget cuts as hospitals
Speaker 1: are forced to scale back operations to meet financial demands
Speaker 1: from a cash strapped Victorian government. Some doctors at Saint
Speaker 1: Vincent's Hospital on the Park in East Melbourne, one of
Speaker 1: eight rapid access hubs to established to clear a massive
Speaker 1: pandemic backlog, have been told their contracts will not be
Speaker 1: renewed again. The disgrace that is giving a gold medal
Speaker 1: to Daniel Andrews four public Health when the reality is
Speaker 1: that his long term effects on public health have been disastrous.
Speaker 1: Let's go full screen now with what you can see
Speaker 1: in camp, because obviously we are about to see something.
Speaker 1: In fact, I believe this is julianus Antres, lawyer speaking now.
Speaker 5: We are absolutely delighted to be home. It's a very
Speaker 5: emotional return home to Australia. It was a very long
Speaker 5: journey home to Australia. It started two days ago. Julian
Speaker 5: was released from bail in the UK early on Monday morning,
Speaker 5: UK time. We had to spend twelve hours in stan
Speaker 5: Said airport before we boarded a flight to Bangkok, another
Speaker 5: eight or nine hours in Bangkok before we flew to Saipan,
Speaker 5: where Julian entered his plea. We are absolutely delighted, after
Speaker 5: a very long and complex negotiation with the US government,
Speaker 5: that we've reached this plea deal that enabled him to
Speaker 5: come home to Australia as a freeman. The agreement is
Speaker 5: that he will spend no more time in prison. The
Speaker 5: terms of the plea deal are unfortunately that he in
Speaker 5: order to achieve his freedom and to leave the high
Speaker 5: security prison in Belmarsh, he had to plead. He had
Speaker 5: to choose to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage
Speaker 5: for publishing evidence of US war crimes human rights abuse. Yes, guys,
Speaker 5: it's really hard to do this when there's so much
Speaker 5: going on, noise going on the background, Thank you very much.
Speaker 5: In order to win his freedom, Julian pleaded guilty to
Speaker 5: conspiracy to commit espionage for publishing evidence of US war crimes,
Speaker 5: human rights abuse, human rights abuse, and US wrongdoing around
Speaker 5: the world. This is journalism. This is the criminalization of journalism.
Speaker 5: And while the plea dealer does not set a judicial precedent,
Speaker 5: it's not a court decision, the prosecution itself sets a
Speaker 5: precedent that can be used against the rest of the media.
Speaker 5: It's important that journalists all around the world understand the
Speaker 5: dangerous precedent that this prosecution is set. An award winning
Speaker 5: Australian journalists who's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
Speaker 5: for these olcations, has spent more than five years in
Speaker 5: a high security prison because of this extradition request from
Speaker 5: the United States. We are absolutely thrilled that Julian is
Speaker 5: now home in Australia. I can say when we landed
Speaker 5: here in Australia, I became very emotional the moment we
Speaker 5: landed and the Prime Minister was the first person to
Speaker 5: get on the phone to speak to Julian. Julian thanked
Speaker 5: him and the team and told the Prime Minister that
Speaker 5: he had saved his life and I don't think that's
Speaker 5: an exaggeration. I want to take this opportunity to thank
Speaker 5: the Prime Minister Prime Minister Albanezi for his principal leadership,
Speaker 5: the statesmanship and diploma see that he showed in leading
Speaker 5: the effort to bring Julian home to Australia. It was
Speaker 5: as opposition leader that he said enough is enough, that
Speaker 5: there was nothing to be saved by Julian's ongoing incarceration.
Speaker 5: As Prime Minister, he kept his word. He raised it
Speaker 5: at the highest level. At every single opportunity. He has
Speaker 5: continued to ask the US to bring this to an end,
Speaker 5: and his efforts completely changed the situation for Julian and
Speaker 5: enabled our negotiations with the US government that allowed us
Speaker 5: to reach this outcome. I also want to thank our
Speaker 5: Ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, our former Prime Minister,
Speaker 5: whose relentless efforts in Washington, working together closely with us,
Speaker 5: with myself and my co council Barry Pollock, completely changed
Speaker 5: our relationship with the US and completely changed the negotiations.
Speaker 5: Without his efforts and his adept diplomacy, not be in
Speaker 5: the position we are today and Julian would not be home.
Speaker 5: I also want to thank Stephen Smith, our High Commissioner
Speaker 5: in London, who worked tirelessly and the team at defat
Speaker 5: the consulor staff who really facilitated our trip home and
Speaker 5: were incredibly kind to Julian along the way. This is
Speaker 5: a huge win for Australia and for Australian democracy. This
Speaker 5: is a huge win for free speech. This is a
Speaker 5: huge win for Australia. That our Prime Minister stood up
Speaker 5: to our ally the United States and demanded the return
Speaker 5: of an Australian citizen, and that Julian came home today
Speaker 5: is the product of fourteen long years of legal battles,
Speaker 5: political advocacy and ongoing campaigning not just by us, but
Speaker 5: by so many people in this community. A global movement
Speaker 5: was created around Julian and the need to protect free speech,
Speaker 5: and it's that global movement that has led to his
Speaker 5: release today. We want to thank everyone who has joined
Speaker 5: us in this fight, who have supported us along the way,
Speaker 5: because without that support and the campaigning that's been done,
Speaker 5: we just wouldn't be in this position. Julian is incredibly
Speaker 5: grateful for the support that he's had from the Australian
Speaker 5: government and from the public here in Australia, and we're
Speaker 5: delighted that he's home. He's finally home. I'm going to
Speaker 5: invite my I'm happy we might take questions. I might
Speaker 5: just at the end if that's okay. But I'd like
Speaker 5: to invite my us CO Council, Barry Pollock, to come
Speaker 5: and address you about the clea deal.
Speaker 6: Good evening earlier this evening, earlier today, in a courthouse
Speaker 6: in Sapan, we had a hearing that brought to a
Speaker 6: close at prosecution that never should have been brought. Julian
Speaker 6: Assange has for so many years sacrificed for freedom of
Speaker 6: speech and freedom of the press. He's sacrificed his own freedom,
Speaker 6: and finally today that tragic situation ended, and we are
Speaker 6: all grateful that Julian is back home in Australia where
Speaker 6: he belongs, back with Stella, back with his children, reunited
Speaker 6: with his father. It is unprecedented and unprecedented in the
Speaker 6: United States to use the Espionage Act to criminally prosecute
Speaker 6: a journalist or a publisher. It's in the more than
Speaker 6: one hundred year history of that law, it has never
Speaker 6: been used in this fashion. It is certainly our hope
Speaker 6: that it will never again be used in this fashion.
Speaker 6: Julian spent years in bell Marsh. No one should spend
Speaker 6: a day in prison for giving the public newsworthy and
Speaker 6: important information, in this case, information that the United States
Speaker 6: government had committed war crimes, that there were civilian casualties
Speaker 6: exponentially greater than the United States government had admitted in
Speaker 6: Iraq and Afghanistan. It was definitely in the public's interest
Speaker 6: to have this information, and Julian provided it to the public.
Speaker 6: He performed a tremendous public service, not a crime. The
Speaker 6: problem with the Espionage Act is there is no First
Speaker 6: Amendment defense in the Espionage Act. It does, by its terms,
Speaker 6: not matter the reason why you publish the US For years,
Speaker 6: the US government has claimed that these publications did great harm.
Speaker 6: Today in court, the United States Government admitted that there
Speaker 6: is not a single person anywhere that they can produce
Speaker 6: that was actually harmed by these publications. Hopefully this is
Speaker 6: the end, not just of the case.
Speaker 4: Again, I wish to thank the Prime Minister Alvin Easy
Speaker 4: the officials who have been working in defect on securing
Speaker 4: Julian's release. I'd also like to thank the Australian people
Speaker 4: who have made this possible because without their support, there
Speaker 4: would not be the political space to be able to
Speaker 4: achieve Julian's freedom, and that support is across the board.
Speaker 4: I think hm the opposition for also supporting Julian's release.
Speaker 4: It took all all of them. It took millions of people,
Speaker 4: It took people working behind the scenes, people protesting on
Speaker 4: the streets for days and weeks and months and years,
Speaker 4: and we achieved it good Julian. Julian wanted me to
Speaker 4: sincerely thank everyone. He wanted to be here, but you
Speaker 4: have to understand what he's been through. He needs time,
Speaker 4: he needs to recuperate, and this is a process. I
Speaker 4: ask you please to give us space, to give us privacy,
Speaker 4: to find our place, to let our family be a family,
Speaker 4: before he can speak again at a time of his choosing.
Speaker 4: I think it's important to recognize that Julian's relief and
Speaker 4: breakthrough in the negotiations came at a time when there
Speaker 4: had been a breakthrough in the legal case in the
Speaker 4: UK in the extradition, where the High Court had allowed
Speaker 4: permission to appeal. There was a court date for the
Speaker 4: ninth and tenth of July and upcoming court date in
Speaker 4: which Julian would be able to raise the first Amendment
Speaker 4: argument at the High Court, and it is in this
Speaker 4: context that things finally started to move I think it
Speaker 4: revealed how uncomfortable the United States government is in fact
Speaker 4: of having these arguments aired because this case. The fact
Speaker 4: is that this case is an attack on journalism, it's
Speaker 4: an attack on the public's right to know, and it
Speaker 4: should never have been brought. Julian should never have spent
Speaker 4: a single day in prison. But today we celebrate because
Speaker 4: today Julian is free.
Speaker 6: Kay ten of questions, just address them to the individual and.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you when we're out. I think the first.
Speaker 7: Question, Robinson, is the return of Julian Assigne has revived
Speaker 7: this huge debate about whether his activities were right or right.
Speaker 1: And we've seen political figures in the US and in Australia.
Speaker 7: Here say that he's no hero, that his.
Speaker 1: Disclosures lies at risk.
Speaker 7: Some Democrats don't like the disclosures about Hillary Clington, for instance.
Speaker 7: What's your response to this sort of fundamental argument that's
Speaker 7: been made against Jillian Assigne, that he lives at risk,
Speaker 7: for instance, and that his disclosures were not in the
Speaker 7: public interests.
Speaker 5: Well, well, to start with, there's no evidence of any
Speaker 5: actual harm, and that's exactly what the US government acknowledged
Speaker 5: in court today. And Sipan So there is no evidence
Speaker 5: that anyone was physically harmed to result of those publications.
Speaker 5: The public interest in those publications is clear evidence of
Speaker 5: war crimes. So the US had not disclosed the extent
Speaker 5: of civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, the use of torture,
Speaker 5: and other forms of human rights of use around the world.
Speaker 5: There is no denying the public interests in wikilikes publications,
Speaker 5: which is reflected in the reasons why Wiki Lakes has
Speaker 5: won the Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism
Speaker 5: the Sydney Peace Prize. That the fact that Julian has
Speaker 5: been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year since
Speaker 5: those publications. So to suggest that this was not in
Speaker 5: the public interest, I don't understand the basis of from
Speaker 5: which they could possibly suggest that, and so I think
Speaker 5: it's this is clear.
Speaker 8: Still luck from the other questions, which is not helping us.
Speaker 8: That moment on the tarmac where you embraced Julian must
Speaker 8: have been incredibly surreal that the moment you.
Speaker 5: Realize that this was a design are.
Speaker 4: Yes, it was overcome by emotion when when I first
Speaker 4: heard that there were crowds to hearing that I didn't
Speaker 4: even know were there behind a fence because it was dark.
Speaker 4: And then I heard them cheer more and more and flashes,
Speaker 4: and then I turned the corner and then I saw
Speaker 4: that Jillian was coming and and we embraced. And I mean,
Speaker 4: I think you've seen the pictures. I don't want to
Speaker 4: express in words what is obvious from from the image Julian.
Speaker 4: Julian needs time to recover, to to get used to freedom.
Speaker 4: Someone told me yesterday who who had been through something similar,
Speaker 4: that freedom comes slowly, and I want Julian to have
Speaker 4: that space to rediscover freedom slowly and quickly.
Speaker 9: Yestiles earlier, I think he may not have read them.
Speaker 9: You now have the opportunity just remind us of how
Speaker 9: that actually performed. The d n C and the corruption
Speaker 9: within the good for the Democratic Natural Congress.
Speaker 5: Yes, Look, there was a huge there was clearly public
Speaker 5: interest in the DNC materials that.
Speaker 4: Was released by Wiki Leakes.
Speaker 5: And in terms of the legality of those publications, there's
Speaker 5: a there's a US Court decision showing that it had
Speaker 5: the highest possible protection of the First Amendment. So from
Speaker 5: a principal point of view, people might not like the
Speaker 5: politics of any particular publication, but that publication is absolutely
Speaker 5: protected by the First Amendment, as US courts are found.
Speaker 2: Does that mean.
Speaker 9: Conditions to.
Speaker 5: I thinks best Barry speaks to the chance.
Speaker 6: To play do There are absolutely no restrictions on aunt Julian.
Speaker 6: The case against him is over. Uh, there is no
Speaker 6: gag order. Uh, there are no other restrictions.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 6: He is going to be able to go back to
Speaker 6: uh whatever life he chooses to build, uh with Stella
Speaker 6: in his his family. The Uh, the negotiations were protracted
Speaker 6: UH process Uh that uh went on for several months.
Speaker 6: UH sort of inn fits and starts. Uh. There We
Speaker 6: were not close to any sort of a resolution until
Speaker 6: a few weeks ago when the Department of Justice re
Speaker 6: engaged and there have been very intense negotiations over the
Speaker 6: last few weeks. One thing we were very clear about
Speaker 6: was that any resolution would have to end this matter
Speaker 6: and that Julian would be free. That he was not
Speaker 6: going to do additional time in prison. He was not
Speaker 6: going to do time under supervision. He was not going
Speaker 6: to do time under a gag order. So that was
Speaker 6: one absolute requirement. Another significant point of negotiation was where
Speaker 6: the plea would be taken Julian did not want to
Speaker 6: come to the United States in any form. Ultimately, obviously
Speaker 6: we negotiated Saipan a hunder conditions where he would be
Speaker 6: released in the UK, he would come to Saipan, not
Speaker 6: as a prisoner of the United States or of the
Speaker 6: United Kingdom, and that we would come in and leave
Speaker 6: on the same day, which is exactly what happened. And
Speaker 6: other provisions of the plea that were very significant. The
Speaker 6: United States agreed that they are not going to bring
Speaker 6: any other charges against Julian for any conduct, any publications,
Speaker 6: any news gathering, anything at all that occurred prior to
Speaker 6: the time of the plea. So even if he had
Speaker 6: prevailed in the extradition proceeding, that would have just resolved
Speaker 6: this case. This resolves any possible case that the United
Speaker 6: States could bring against Julian for any subject matter. So
Speaker 6: that was obviously very significant to us.
Speaker 8: So, yes, today what pomes for potted to be managed
Speaker 8: to Julian?
Speaker 1: How do you see that signing out?
Speaker 8: Would you like the Australian governments? Would that call what
Speaker 8: could be constably ninused to actually achieve.
Speaker 5: That that commonlity.
Speaker 4: M look, I think today we celebrate Julian's freedom. Today
Speaker 4: is the day that the plea deal was approved by
Speaker 4: the judge. I think it's also a day where I
Speaker 4: hope journalists and editors and publishers everywhere realize the danger
Speaker 4: of the of thish US case against Julian that criminalizes
Speaker 4: that has UH secured a conviction for news gathering and
Speaker 4: publishing information that was in the public interest, that was true,
Speaker 4: that the public deserved to know, and that precedent now
Speaker 4: can and will be used in the future against the
Speaker 4: rest of the press. So it is in the in
Speaker 4: the interest of all of the press to seek for
Speaker 4: this UH current state of affairs to to UH change
Speaker 4: through reform of the Espionage Act, through increased press protections
Speaker 4: and yes, eventually when the time comes, not today a pardon.
Speaker 8: How hopeful.
Speaker 9: That your husband will be pardoned? And what do you
Speaker 9: think is doing at the absolute core that the shifting
Speaker 9: that's enabled these minutes.
Speaker 4: I think friend of the press is in a very
Speaker 4: dangerous place. It's not it's not evident that it will
Speaker 4: move towards more protections, but rather less there needs to
Speaker 4: be a conscious and joint effort to push back, and
Speaker 4: that pushback should have that pushback should have resulted in
Speaker 4: the dropping of the case against Julian. Unfortunately that didn't happen.
Speaker 4: That would have been the only good outcome for the
Speaker 4: press in general. If if the US government had abandoned
Speaker 4: this case entirely, now you have you have the press
Speaker 4: in a as vulnerable position as Julian has been. And
Speaker 4: that that came the day the indictment came down. Let's
Speaker 4: be clear about that. That didn't come down with this conviction.
Speaker 4: And frankly, that mobilization should have happened years ago, and
Speaker 4: that's what enabled the conviction. I think he'll be pardoned
Speaker 4: if the press unite to push back against this precedent,
Speaker 4: because it affects all of you. It affects your future
Speaker 4: ability to inform the public and to publish without fear.
Speaker 2: In the coming days.
Speaker 4: No comment.
Speaker 8: Harry has three more questions here still here.
Speaker 5: But what I can say from the phone call with
Speaker 5: the Prime Minister's small this afternoon when we land, is
Speaker 5: that he is delighted that still are enjoyed are both
Speaker 5: now in Australia, and we certainly hope that at some
Speaker 5: point they'll be able.
Speaker 9: To meet time to keep bargy with week Lakes and
Speaker 9: published more documents.
Speaker 4: And look, he just arrived in Australia after being in
Speaker 4: a high security prison for over five years and a
Speaker 4: how long seventy two hour flight or something like that.
Speaker 4: It's premature. Julian has to recover, that's the priority. And
Speaker 4: the fact is that Julian is will always defend human rights,
Speaker 4: will always defend victims. He's always done that and that's
Speaker 4: just part of who he is. Is deeply principled and
Speaker 4: he remains deeply principled and unafraid.
Speaker 5: Thank you very much, everybody.
Speaker 1: Julia Sange's wife and two principal lawyers there at the
Speaker 1: end of a press conference at a hotel in Canberra.
Speaker 1: You could see there there were multiple times when people
Speaker 1: as part of the traditional Canberra press gallery would be
Speaker 1: asking questions and then clearly a series of supporters were
Speaker 1: at the back of the room at times jostling with
Speaker 1: some of those reporters. But it's a day that the media,
Speaker 1: talking about the media would be somewhat of the distraction
Speaker 1: from the real deal, which is that Julian no sane
Speaker 1: is home is home in Australia, and as his wife
Speaker 1: said about his future as to whether he goes back
Speaker 1: into Wiki leaks that would be premature. He needs to recover.
Speaker 1: Interesting to know from his American lawyer that there is
Speaker 1: no gag orders. The conversation you heard usked a few
Speaker 1: times by again both the traditional canber media and other
Speaker 1: people that were in the room. Should he be pardoned? Now,
Speaker 1: this I presumable go all the way to the presidential debate,
Speaker 1: and the question will probably come up there because literally
Speaker 1: we've seen a scenario where Donald Trump has flirted with
Speaker 1: it in the past as a way to get to
Speaker 1: libertarian votes. Biden is clearly the one who made the
Speaker 1: decision upon the playing of the Australian officials to say
Speaker 1: time served and game over. Whether he's willing to go
Speaker 1: all the way to a pardon, we'll all find out
Speaker 1: in the next couple of days. Now, let's get into
Speaker 1: a conversation that thankfully we do have time to talk
Speaker 1: about with Christen Abram, who is a libertarian and no
Speaker 1: doubt rather happy this evening, and none other than Graham Lloyd,
Speaker 1: wh's editor from the Australian newspaper. We will find out
Speaker 1: his position right now. So we've all heard, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that everyone heard all of that
Speaker 1: because it didn't want us to be accused or anyone
Speaker 1: else of cutting things off and part of the deep
Speaker 1: state and all of that other stuff that's going to
Speaker 1: go around. But Graham, something that I have found fascinating
Speaker 1: just thinking about it in the past couple of days.
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to have the good guy bad
Speaker 1: guy conversation. Everyone else can to have that. Let's compare
Speaker 1: the circumstances of say, two thousand and ten to now,
Speaker 1: when the distrust of institutions is something that has grown,
Speaker 1: and I would suggest at times it's grown because of
Speaker 1: the behavior of those institutions, which has seen a person
Speaker 1: like Assange go from his original casting self casting as
Speaker 1: an anarchist, all the way through to what we're seeing
Speaker 1: now where the Prime Minister is holding a press conference
Speaker 1: owning his return. That is one hell of a change
Speaker 1: in national and international mood that I think is really
Speaker 1: a big part of this story.
Speaker 10: That right, good evening, Paul Well, there has been a
Speaker 10: complete breakdown in trust, if you like, in the institutions,
Speaker 10: particularly in parts of America, to a lesser extent probably here,
Speaker 10: there's also been a huge rise in the ability and
Speaker 10: capacity of the online world. Julian Nosange is presenting himself
Speaker 10: as a journalist. That's debatable. Certainly, he was a publisher.
Speaker 10: He was publishing without vetting material.
Speaker 3: And he was able to do that.
Speaker 10: Because the Internet would allow him to dump huge volumes
Speaker 10: of material. As the Internet has risen, we've seen people
Speaker 10: can sort of choose their narrative if you like, And
Speaker 10: that's all part of a big ground swell that Julian
Speaker 10: Lossage was probably right at the foundation of.
Speaker 1: And again, Kristen, again just just looking at what I
Speaker 1: think is the a bigger tectonic shift in and around
Speaker 1: all of this is again the centering of the Internet
Speaker 1: as an information distribution system as opposed to where we
Speaker 1: were in two thousand and six, two and ten, where
Speaker 1: very obviously now there are people who are heard on
Speaker 1: podcasts and seen online who have much bigger following than
Speaker 1: television stars of the United States. Now, obviously there's that
Speaker 1: first dump of information, then there's the second version of it,
Speaker 1: which of course did bring in other media organizations to
Speaker 1: start to filter through to now a place where people
Speaker 1: wouldn't trust anything. But there are some people that would
Speaker 1: not trust anything but an outside source for news.
Speaker 11: What do you think, Yeah, look, I think Joanna Signe
Speaker 11: has been the biggest campaigner for a free speech that
Speaker 11: I have seen in my lifetime. He's been facing this
Speaker 11: for nearly a half the three quarters of my lifetime.
Speaker 11: We went to the Libertarian Party went to the twenty
Speaker 11: twenty two election with a free speech policy which also
Speaker 11: outlined that to bring our boy home, bring Julian Assange home.
Speaker 11: And I am honored to be sitting in the Sky
Speaker 11: News studio today to watch that piece of history of
Speaker 11: bringing Julian Assange home. The thing about free speech is
Speaker 11: to ensure that we all continue to have it, you
Speaker 11: also have to protect the free speech of the people
Speaker 11: that you don't agree with, the people that are talking rubbish.
Speaker 11: It is a protection for all of us and it
Speaker 11: is unwavering that we all have to fight for. So
Speaker 11: Juliana Sange, I do believe as journalist he continued the
Speaker 11: pursuit of the truth in the public interest and what
Speaker 11: other way would you define journalism at well.
Speaker 1: Graham also to where we are right now, and again
Speaker 1: to those that have been committed to the show for
Speaker 1: a long time, My view, like many has evolved and changed.
Speaker 1: I'm not jumping out on a skin tonight, but I say,
Speaker 1: time served, game over right, because if Chelsea Manning, the
Speaker 1: person who actually took the information, is out of jar, well,
Speaker 1: then obviously the person who published it should be as well.
Speaker 1: That decision was made a long time ago, a sun
Speaker 1: spent more time behind bars. But I remember, you know,
Speaker 1: copying of flaming from wiki leaks, because again I hadn't
Speaker 1: quite believed the conversion from the bloke who was on
Speaker 1: the Colbert Show a long time ago to the Walkley
Speaker 1: winning guy and all the rest of it. But Graham again,
Speaker 1: as narratives go, and it does look like this again.
Speaker 1: The tectonic shift that I find fascinating here is that
Speaker 1: previously it was the state and the establishment that was
Speaker 1: able to set a narrative of good guy bad go right.
Speaker 1: We're now in a scenario where the st and the
Speaker 1: people who work on its behalf, whether they know or not,
Speaker 1: are nowhere near as powerful as they used to be.
Speaker 1: And that's what I found amazing was that we had
Speaker 1: Anthony Alberizi basically as loud as he could in live
Speaker 1: real time, not hiding, doing it right in the middle
Speaker 1: of a time when people were watching as the plane
Speaker 1: was landing, to own it and sees immense, immense strength
Speaker 1: that comes out of the people who support Juliana Sangje.
Speaker 1: But I found that incredible that it was the PM,
Speaker 1: not a minister, not somebody else. He was there front
Speaker 1: and center beating his chest.
Speaker 10: Well, certainly the Prime Minister has seen that there is
Speaker 10: a ground well of support for Julian Massage, just as
Speaker 10: there are a lot of people who don't respect what
Speaker 10: he did. But the story today, it's really a human story,
Speaker 10: is that you alluded to the time that he has
Speaker 10: spent in prison, and after all of that he has
Speaker 10: been released. That's dragged on for a long time, and
Speaker 10: it's disappointing really that it is an imperfect legal process.
Speaker 10: A lot of the issues of the free speech and
Speaker 10: other things weren't properly tested. The time spend in prison
Speaker 10: revolved around his refusal to accept extradition, and so that
Speaker 10: once he'd sort of put the time in the bank,
Speaker 10: it was traded off against the offense. There wasn't a
Speaker 10: big unpacking of that offense and how it relates to
Speaker 10: those broader issues of the media and free speech. In
Speaker 10: a court of law, that may be the wrong place
Speaker 10: for that to have happened. But what we're left with
Speaker 10: is a man who needs to go and rebuild himself.
Speaker 10: He's obviously got the loving support of family, and that
Speaker 10: is the emotional story that people are invested in today.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that moment. Just look again, we all
Speaker 1: know where the front page are going to be to
Speaker 1: morrow and whether it's going to be sort of the
Speaker 1: feast up where it's going to be the embrace both
Speaker 1: of those fairly obviously emotional. Kristen again the where to
Speaker 1: from here? Would you like to see a scenario where
Speaker 1: Assange goes quiet and rebuilds himself or you want to
Speaker 1: hear from him sooner rather than later.
Speaker 11: I personally think that the prison sentence hasn't ended for him.
Speaker 11: He's got a lot of work to do. I would
Speaker 11: assume he comes with a lot of you know, psychological
Speaker 11: trauma that has he's endured through this process. He has
Speaker 11: missed his children growing up because of him campaigning for
Speaker 11: free speech selfishly as a libertarian. I would love for
Speaker 11: him to come join the Libertarian party and bang the
Speaker 11: free speech argument home. You know, Juliana Sange, if you're
Speaker 11: watching this, please come to us. But if he's not,
Speaker 11: I completely understand that you spend some quality time with
Speaker 11: your kids that you know you can't get those years back.
Speaker 1: Well, whether there's a political future or not, I suggested
Speaker 1: earlier on the show, it might be wide because nary
Speaker 1: privilege comes with that political experience should he end up
Speaker 1: in the Senate or somewhere else. But we'll all find
Speaker 1: out together. Thank you very much, guys, I do appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I wanted to have that not good guy, bad guy conversation,
Speaker 1: but just to see how much our world has changed
Speaker 1: in the years since the first dump, the charging, the jailing,
Speaker 1: and now the return of Juliana Sange. We'll get back
Speaker 1: to it again tomorrow and Meghan Kelly will be our
Speaker 1: guest as we ProView the debate between Trump and Biden,
Speaker 1: where no doubt the pardon will come up.