NEW YORK (PNN) - November 10, 2016 - Despite having only been elected in the early hours of this morning, the Republican candidate is already facing his first major decision over calls for Julian Assange to be cleared over sex assault allegations. WikiLeaks has long sought to expand privacy rights and has strongly opposed secret wiretaps, drone strikes, and the Guantánamo Bay prison facility.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, has suggested “closing up the Internet” and has often wondered aloud whether the Fascist Police States of Amerika should consider using nuclear weapons more often.
However, despite their differences, the two men have been brought together by the race for the White House.
Thousands of private e-mails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta were leaked last month, soon after the leak of a video of Trump making vulgar comments about women in 2005.
Assange claims he wanted to “change the conversation”, but as Trump continued to be accused of sexism, several extra batches of e-mails were released, with WikiLeaks promising more leaks.
Now Trump supporters, who are still celebrating his historic win last night that saw him secure 279 votes in the Electoral College, say the WikiLeaks activist should be pardoned for helping to bring home the victory.
It would be an unprecedented and controversial move as Assange is facing an arrest warrant for allegations of rape in Sweden.
Hundreds of social media users have gone online to demand Trump take action immediately to pardon the activist, who remains holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
James Thomas said, “Julian Assange is a hero. Trump should pardon (him) and make him Press Secretary.”
Patrick Savalle said, “Trump, now show some real balls and pardon Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and most of all your chief campaigner Julian Assange.”
Twitter user Chrysostomos said, “Has Trump been in touch with Julian Assange about a possible pardon? I think many would be happy to lobby him for one.”
Duke Rivers tweeted, “President-Elect Trump, may I make a suggestion? Pardon Assange. The value of his work is clear by now.”
Justin Petaccio said, “Julian Assange and his team have earned a pardon from President Trump. None of this would have been possible without WikiLeaks. Thank You.”
Walter Krumholz said, “Trump ought to pardon Assange and drop all charges against him; invite him to Amerika, if he chooses. Truth will out.”
Multiple threads dedicated to Assange receiving a pardon have also been created on discussion forum Reddit.
User FluffyBunnyHugs said, “While he has the pen in hand, pardon Snowden too. They have both performed a great service to the Amerikan People and should be lauded as Heroes. I think a ticker tape parade is in order.”
CorruptClinton said, “I was thinking about this earlier. Republicans have a history of going after whistle blowers. However, Julian clearly helped his cause and Trump is a loyal guy (supposedly). Julian is a hero not a criminal.”
Another added, “I really hope Trump pardons whistleblowers like Assange, Snowden, etc. It would be a great moment in (FPSA) history.”
Supporters have even set up a petition calling for the pardon to go ahead as soon as possible, with more than 230 people signing in the last 13 hours.
The petition reads, “Julian Assange has been persecuted and harried by the very people he has sought to expose for their lies and deceptions against the people of the world. Assange has shone a bright light on the corruption of those who presume to rule us. We believe Assange must be granted a presidential pardon absolving him of any crimes alleged against him. He is a hero and must be honored as such.”
It is unclear how supporters expect Trump to pardon Assange, who is hiding from extradition from a European Arrest Warrant.
