Julian Assange to plead guilty on Saipan today

Julian Paul Assange, the man accused of leaking U.S. national defense information and endangering individuals, is set to arrive on Saipan this morning where he is expected to plead guilty before U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona.

The CNMI is expected to be the center of international attention with the Wikileaks founder set to arrive at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport at around 6am today.

Assange, who will be represented by attorney Richard Miller in court today, is set to plead guilty to a charge under the U.S. Espionage Act; specifically conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States.

It was learned that Assange will be brought to Saipan for a change of plea hearing as he has heavily opposed traveling to the continental United States to enter his guilty plea and because of the proximity of the NMI federal U.S. District Court to his country of citizenship, Australia, to which he is expected to return at the conclusion of the proceedings.

Yesterday, Matthew J. McRenzie—deputy chief Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the U.S. Department of Justice National Security Division—submitted a letter addressed to Manglona asking that both Assange’s change of plea hearing and sentencing be held today before he returns to Australia.

“We are attaching the electronically signed felony information in the above-captioned matter and respectfully request that, as soon as possible, the clerk docket this letter and information in order to provide public notice of the Rule 11 hearing scheduled before your honor on Saipan for Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 9am, during which we anticipate that the defendant will plead guilty to the charge in the information of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 793(g), and be sentenced by thecCourt for that offense,” said McRenzie.

According to the information filed against Assange—who is not a United States citizen and does not possess U.S. security clearance or authorization to possess or control documents, writings, or notes relating to the national defense of the United States—conspired with Chelsea Manning, a United States Army intelligence analyst who held top secret U.S. security clearance and was deployed to forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq, from at least 2009 and continuing through at least 2011 to disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States.

Specifically, the duo allegedly received documents, writings, and notes connected to U.S. national defense.

“Including such materials classified up to the SECRET level, for the purpose of obtaining information respecting the national defense, and knowing and with reason to believe at the time such materials were received and obtained, they had been and would be taken, obtained, and disposed of by a person contrary to the provisions of Chapter 37 of Title 18 of the United States Code, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 793©,” said the information.

Lastly, the co-conspirators are accused of willfully communicating documents relating to the national defense to persons not entitled to receive them in furtherance of the conspiracy.