CNN talking head, and resident White House activist, Jim Acosta refused to condemn the Espionage Act being used against WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange at an event where he was attempting to portray himself as a defender of the free press.
Acosta’s book is titled, “The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America,” but do not let that headline fool you into thinking that he supports the freedom of the press.
Acosta was asked about his thoughts on the subject by YouTuber Matt Orfalea at an event at the Newseum over the weekend titled, “The President and the Press: The First Amendment and the First 100 Days.”
The question asked by Orfalea was simple, “what do you think of the Trump administration’s use of the controversial Espionage Act to indict WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing classified information in the 2010s that exposed war crimes, informed the public, and didn’t harm anyone?”
Assange has been charged for his release of the Iraq and Afghan War Logs which were provided to him by Chelsea Manning. He is not currently charged with anything related to the 2016 election, but that did not stop Acosta from trying to make a case for why he wants to see him punished for the 2010 release as payback for the completely unrelated publication of the Democratic National Committee emails.
“I am probably not gonna give you a satisfactory answer,” Acosta correctly began, “but I’m gonna do the best that I can.”
“I do think, and forgive me if you don’t agree with me on this, I do think what happened with us and my press pass case is slightly different than what happened with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks,” Acosta said.
The CNN pundit was correct here, as Assange has published world changing information and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on seven occasions. Acosta simply attempts to insert himself into news cycles to go viral and keep his face on television.
“My understanding about the Julian Assange situation is that, you know, he is being charged not just for trying to speak truth to power, and trying to reveal things. He’s in trouble for other things. What we’ve seen during the 2016 campaign where there were contacts between WikiLeaks and Russian operatives — that I think takes WikiLeaks and Julian Assange into sort of a different category than just a straight news organization — straight publisher of news around the world,” Acosta stammered on, as if he himself is part of a “straight news organization.”
Acosta added that he is not “rendering a verdict on Julian Assange” and that he should have his day in court.
Perhaps realizing how ridiculous he sounds trying to conflate the Manning release and the DNC release, Acosta noted that he does value whistleblowers and “people inside the government dealing with journalists to shine a light on government secrets.” He explained that while he was writing his own book, there were people in the administration that were “deeply afraid” of speaking on the record with him.
“I do understand what Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, the spirit of what they are trying to do, but I can’t sit here and endorse everything they have done,” Acosta said, revealing that his support of the First Amendment is conditional — based on if he likes the organization or not.
Orfalea interjected to explain that he was specifically asking about the Espionage Act charges, “not allegations of Russia collusion.”
“Obviously federal laws should not be abused to punish journalists, and punish publishers of information, but I can’t on the fly here interpret what is going on in the Julian Assange case and give you a satisfactory answer that’s gonna make you feel as though I’m siding with you,” Acosta responded.
Clearly growing frustrated, Orfalea attempted to simplify his question for Acosta, “should journalists be put in prison for publishing classified information?”
“Let me think about that,” Acosta said, before moving on past the question.
