Julian Assange Charged With Espionage: Is True Journalism Under Attack, Heresy?

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Greg Palast, award-winning investigative reporter featured in The Guardian, Nation Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, BBC and other high profile media outlets.

The Justice Department is filing new criminal charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Assange is charged with violating the US Espionage Act. He was previously charged with conspiracy to commit computer hacking, related to the leaks of US diplomatic cables and military documents. Assange remains in jail in London after being evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy there.

John Walker Lindh, known widely as the "American Taliban," has been released from prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Lindh was freed on probation after serving 17 years of a 20-year sentence for providing support to the Taliban. He was captured during the US invasion of Afghanistan in the fall of 2001 and returned to the United States the next year. I think there is more to this story than we've been led to believe.

While the US likes to characterize its regime-change efforts in Venezuela as humanitarian in nature, the targeting of officials involved in a program that so many ordinary Venezuelans rely on reveals that the US aims to install opposition leader Juan Guaido by any means necessary. The new sanctions follow a report by the Center for Economic Policy Research, which stated that 40,000 Venezuelans have died because of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration that prevent essential supplies from getting into the country. "The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food, and other essential imports," Mark Weisbrot, who co-authored the report, wrote in a press release.

GUESTS:

Greg Palast — Award-winning investigative reporter featured in The Guardian, Nation Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, BBC and other high profile media outlets. He covered Venezuela for The Guardian and BBC Television's "Newsnight." His BBC reports are the basis of his film, "The Assassination of Hugo Chavez."

Dave Lindorff — Investigative reporter and founder of the news collective This Can't Be Happening!.

Alex Rubinstein — MintPress News analyst and journalist.

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