While many on the right are celebrating the impending plea deal of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, some of his most loyal supporters are taking things one step further—and are out for revenge.
“Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo betrayed justice by targeting Julian Assange and General Michael Flynn,” one Truth Social user wrote Tuesday morning. “Their actions warrant imprisonment.”
Echoed one commenter: “I think that the two Mike[s]…Pompeo and Pence have some dirty things on them.”
The comments come in the wake of Assange returning to the U.S. to plead guilty to one felony count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security material, ending his battle against extradition to the U.S.
Assange had spent the past five years in a London prison and nearly seven years before that in hiding at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, first to avoid what he said was a politically motivated rape investigation in Sweden, and than a potentially lifelong prison sentence in the U.S.
Assange long feared the U.S. would indict him after sharing national security documents on WikiLeaks that contained information about U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His actions gained international attention and drew a community of unwavering advocates who lauded him as hero and formed the #FreeAssange movement to call for his release.
The announced plea deal drew praise from those proponents, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) who called video of Assange leaving London “an incredible sight” and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who called him a “generational hero.”
A number of conservatives have praised the new, given Assange’s release of DNC emails in 2016.
But while former President Donald Trump also made his love of WikiLeaks known, it was his administration that first filed a sealed indictment against Assange in 2018.
With the impending plea deal and release coming amid the Biden administration, some right-wingers are scapegoating Trump’s team, specifically Pompeo and Pence, as the only reason why Assange was charged and absolving the former president.
“Now you see why Assange didn’t get pardoned in Trump’s first term. Pence [and] Pompeo,” wrote one right-wing X account Monday night, adding a screenshot of Pence blasting the plea deal as “a miscarriage of justice.”
Many of the replies similarly downplayed Trump’s inaction on Assange.
“One of my main prayers is, should Trump be reelected, is that he find good advisors,” wrote one person. “He picked some real lemons last time.”
“Pence will always be known as a traitor,” replied someone else.
The right-wing vilification of Pompeo, who served in Trump’s administration as both CIA director and Secretary of State, gained prominence in April, after Tucker Carlson alleged that during his time at the CIA, Pompeo attempted to assassinate Assange.
“In that position, he plotted the murder of Julian Assange. So he is a criminal as far as I’m concerned,” Carlson said, adding that he spoke to someone who saw classified documents indicating Pompeo was involved in the plot.
“Mike Pompeo is the one who pressed Trump to keep those documents secret,’ Carlson said. “Pompeo did that. I think Pompeo is a really sinister person and a criminal. I think that. I think that because the facts suggest that he was caught.”
Carlson also brought Assange’s wife, Stella, onto his show, where she made similar remarks.
“He’s a dangerous individual,” she said. “The CIA is a rogue organization that everyone on every level of US politics is terrified of. They are trained to assassinate, to fabricate information and place it in the media and conduct propaganda warfare and to overthrow governments and so on.”
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