Four Corners
Hero or Villain: The United States v Julian Assange (Part 2)
| ABC
In the 2016 race to the White House, presidential candidate Donald Trump took a shine to the whistleblowing site WikiLeaks, led by its Australian founder Julian Assange. Trump revelled in the damage inflicted upon his opponent, Hillary Clinton, by a series of sensational leaks published by the site. Now, as president, Trump has performed a spectacular flip, presiding over an administration determined to imprison the publisher of the leaks.
Julian Assange is now in a British jail cell, fighting attempts to extradite him to the US, where he is facing 17 espionage charges. Despite emphatic denials from supporters of his whistleblowing, the relentless attacks on Hillary Clinton during the US election campaign and his ties to Russia have fuelled suspicion that there was more to WikiLeaks' activities than a commitment to extreme disclosure. The decision by the Trump administration to charge Assange with espionage has provoked even some of his most ardent critics to speak out against a broader campaign to silence whistleblowers and shut down scrutiny of governments.