You're with Patrick Henningson on today's News Talk Radio TNT. Welcome ladies and gentlemen welcome to the program today. This is Tuesday. I'm your host Patrick Henningson. We're live and direct for the next two hours. Appreciate you joining us. And of course, we appreciate everybody in the TNT chat community. We see the numbers building over the last couple of weeks. So really appreciate our listenership, our viewership this program. Listen, we're going to be hitting some very important global geopolitical and international news stories today. I'm going to bring on to the program a lot of great people to help unpack and discuss all the things that are happening right now in the first hour. We'll connect with Basil Valentine TNT's political editor for an update on his world report. Just a quick summary of the major stories that'll be later in this hour in the second hour. We'll be joined by Ibrahim Majid from Beirut. And we'll talk about Hezbollah Israel. Will the United States be drawn into bombing Lebanon? Should Israel declare war in Hezbollah? That's the big question that we're going to be unpacking in the second hour with our guests there. Very important conversation as it could change the trajectory of the hostilities in that region and probably globally as well. So we're looking forward to that conversation. Now, this is not often we get good news. But some good news happened over the over the last couple of 24 hours. In fact, Julian Assange has been freed from Belmarsh prison in the UK as part of a plea deal. So this is quite an interesting story. Suffice to say he is traveling long distances. He's not going to the continental United States. So there's some kind of an arraignment process where he goes through pleads too. It looks like one single count of felony in order to secure his freedom. This was done by the Biden administration. Okay, so just think about the timing of this. We'll get into the political dimensions of that in a couple of minutes with our next guest. We'll bring on to the program. But there's some interesting aspects to this. First of all, we'll find out what's happened. Let's bring on to the program if we can independent journalist from Central Europe, Taylor Houdek, joining us on the live link right now. Taylor really appreciate you joining us. Yeah, thank you for having me. So Taylor, as I said, you know, it's gloom and doom pretty much five days a week here with a couple of three potential World War three fronts instability, a crazy election in the United States. And then this story happens. A lot of us were surprised by this. I'm sure you were as well. It came out of left field. Tell us what's happened here with Julian Assange, Taylor. Yeah, exactly. So we do have some good news to report on this case. This case will no longer continue. We are in the end stages right now, as you had mentioned in your opening monologue there, Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks is released a free man. He is actually on his way right now to the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a territory of the United States in which he will take a guilty plea. And he will be considered to have served his time for that guilty plea or for that guilty charge. And he will be a free man. And once he attends this court hearing, which I think is going to take place in just a few hours. Now I think it's about 6 AM in the Northern Mariana Islands. And that hearing is going to take place at 9 AM. He will then be sent to Australia, the country of his origin where he is a citizen and will live as a free man. Of course, we are still waiting for a judge to formally sign off on this plea agreement, but it is expected to go ahead. So this is great news. He will be free after being detained in some form for the past almost 15 years. Again, he spent the past five years in Belmarsh prison prior to that. He was seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy and then was also on house arrest prior to seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy. So this is really his first taste of freedom for a very long time. Of course, this is a case that really goes to the heart of press freedoms. It also goes contrary to the US government's First Amendment. And in fact, the last time we spoke, we just had concluded an appeal hearing or a permission to appeal hearing hearing hearing in this case. And the judges had allowed for Assange to appeal once again to prevent his extradition. That hearing was scheduled for July 9th and 10th. So in just a few short weeks here, that hearing is no longer going to take place. But the point here is that on July 9th and 10th, the judges were actually going to hear the substantive points of this entire case specifically related to the press freedom arguments. But that again, as I said, will no longer take place as there has been a plea agreement here. But I do wonder, you know, perhaps what has prompted this was the United States government, perhaps nervous to have this aspect of the case discussed in open court. Has this plea agreement been underway for some time now? I think we'll learn some more details in the coming hours after this hearing concludes. Yeah, yeah. Now you're talking my language there, Taylor. Why now? Why the timing now? It's very interesting. I don't think it's a coincidence. Certainly. Do you think what do you think prompted it? Do you make a good argument there, Taylor, that, you know, they don't want to air any more dirty laundry on this case? Because it really goes to the heart of the First Amendment. In fact, there's one of the main objections for his defense team for the last couple of appeals that you'd be denied First Amendment rights, which is outrageous. If you think about it, you can reach out and grab somebody, bring them to the United States, and they don't have any rights. So he's treated like a Gitmo detainee in Guantanamo. But the timing, what else? Do you think there's an election motivation here for Joe Biden? Yeah, I mean, that's that is absolutely possible. I think it's almost foolish to not consider that that was definitely a factor at play here. I think when it comes to diplomatic negotiations, such as this one, these things are going to happen at conveniently timed at convenient times for them. So this will, I think, reflect positively on the Biden administration. I think it reflects very poorly on the former Trump administration, because as you know, as the listeners probably are aware, Trump did have an opportunity to pardon Assange to drop the case. He had a lot of pressure globally from people encouraging him to do so. He did not do so. He continued the prosecution. He actually, it was under his administration that this prosecution was launched. And it I think it is, of course, there's a political element here. I think that that is absolutely at play. It will be interesting if this comes up during these presidential debates in the coming days, we will see. But it is a victory for Julian Assange, personally. I also do want to make note that I think this is also legally a good outcome, because I do think that if extradited, we know based on what we do know, if tried, he would likely be convicted, perhaps on all charges, I think it would set an even worse precedent than the precedent that could have been set with this plea agreement. And I do also want to make note that, and I'm still seeking some clarification on this, but it does seem that a plea deal would not amount to the same legal precedent that would come from, say, if someone were to be tried and convicted or found guilty, it doesn't have the same legal weight there. So I do think that this is also a legal victory certainly for the defense and a loss for the prosecution. But don't be surprised that the US government comes out stating that this is a huge win for the US. I don't think that's the case at all. >> I wish I could throw this tweet that Nancy Pelosi put up saying victory for transparency, not a word from her, any of the Democrats, while Julian Assange was being treated like a terrorist basically, really at the behest of the United States during the last four years. And even during the Trump administration, none of the Democrats piped up in defense of Assange. So now they're trying to take advantage of it and attach themselves to it. So I think you're right, Taylor, this is probably going to end up coming up in the debates and it'll be a sort of gotcha that Biden will use for Trump. But I mean, we know as we've been watching this story for the longest time that both parties are absolutely guilty as anything for maintaining this stranglehold on Assange. Now, any ideas of why the Marianne Islands, that's an unusual route to take back to Australia. Why not New York first to do the arraignment there? I mean, why the Marianne Islands? What do you think? >> Right. Well, according to a letter that was sent by, I'm looking at it right now because this is all fresh information, a letter that was sent by the deputy chief of counterintelligence and export control section of the US Department of Justice, the National Security Division, this individual wrote a letter to the judge in this particular district of the Northern Marianne Islands, in which it was stated that Mr. Assange chose not to and refused to have this hearing take place on the continental United States. And I can completely understand why he would choose not to do so. I think that was a wise choice for him to refuse to be in the continental United States because as we know, there was a serious effort by CIA officials to assassinate Assange while he was seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy. We also know that around this time, then CIA director Mike Pompeo referred to WikiLeaks as a non-state hostile intelligence agency, also used a lot of other very negative language to describe Assange. I mean, he was in perhaps still is very much an enemy of many people within the US government or former officials in particular Mike Pompeo and those within the intelligence community who actually were making serious plans to assassinate him. So it was probably that fear as well as just a general distrust and rightly so of the US government. >> Yeah, rightly so. >> Yeah, exactly. >> Yeah, so I mean, would you trust the US government after everything that's been done to keep you incarcerated as you said 15 years in detention before that arbitrary detention? And what about Britain? I mean, these two countries, I don't know if he'd be confident to step foot in these two countries ever again. And probably a number of other European countries, Sweden being one of them, of course, and maybe some of these other NATO states. So it is a really interesting case. I think this is going to get very interesting now. If he does get free, what do you envision the role that he's going to play in the commentating of what's going on in the world? Besides, there's going to be a victory lap with world leaders, activists, the Roger Waters of the world, high profile supporters, that's expected. But beyond that, what happens if he comes on X and starts opining on Gaza, on Ukraine, on some of these major issues, you know he's going to have the biggest account on Twitter. He will be number one. Yeah, go ahead. >> No, you're exactly right. I mean, his voice now and the rest of his life, I mean, he has such a powerful voice. He has the, you know, he has so much respect from the general public and also many leaders as well. I think that it will be interesting to see what he chooses to do. I could also very much understand if he were to choose to live a quiet life, a peaceful life with his family and stay out of the public eye, or at least maybe do that for some time. I have no idea whatsoever what the plans are for him. But I wish him peace, healing, good health, and I hope that he will have some, you know, very good legal advisors around him to make sure that, you know, nothing like this could ever happen again to him. As you mentioned earlier, you know, being in certain jurisdictions could be somewhat risky. But I'm just very happy that this case has finally come to an end. It has gone on for so long. I remember back in early 2020, you were there covering the case in London. We were both there covering it. It has gone on. The extradition case itself has gone on for four years, but the broader, you know, prosecution and persecution of him has gone on for much longer than that over a decade. So this is a victory and something we should reflect back on positively. And again, it's the great work of journalists covering this case. The outlets like TNT willing to discuss it honestly. The activists, those behind the scenes, the campaigners, the people that took the necessary steps to get this case to the point where it is today. And the other thing where I'm talking to some of my colleagues on social media about this, this is actually a huge shot of adrenaline potentially for Wikileaks because Wikileaks has been laying low for the longest time. Now that he's out, this is a whistle blowers might be more encouraged to basically, you know, engage with Wikileaks. Now, I mean, it's kind of a game. It could be a game changer on that on that score. What do you think? Have you heard anything from Wikileaks, you know, about, you know, where are they as an organization right now? Yes, it's a really interesting question. It's something that I've been thinking about for the past 24 hours myself. I really don't have any more knowledge as to what Wikileaks is going to do now from this point forward. What the sentiment is, my guess is that based on some of the things that his wife, Julian's wife Stella Assange has said, is that the goal right now is for him to focus on healing and to restore his health. I think that's the main focus right now and to also get to Australia safely and without risk of facing any more prosecution or a risk of jail in the United States. So I think that is the main goal at this time. But in the coming months, years, it will be very interesting to see what comes out. And we should, as I said, learn some more information in just a few hours here, perhaps once this hearing wraps up. Yeah. And you're right to make the point first and foremost that he is reunited with his family. This is amazing. He's free in Australia. He's going to get a hero's welcome, no doubt, from many, many Australians, thousands and thousands, tens of thousands, who knows maybe more will be there to welcome him. There's going to be a lot of pressure, of course, on him to do some high-profile interviews. But you're probably going to wait to do that. Imagine not seeing your children out in the normal world for so many years and to be able to spend time with your wife, your children, your family, brothers, sisters, parents, et cetera. I mean, what an amazing relief. Because a lot of us didn't think that this day would ever come, Taylor. I mean, it was just so dark, wasn't it, the last couple of years and this comes out of nowhere. It's incredible. It truly is. I was very surprised when I first saw the media reports about his making a plea deal. I, of course, wanted to make sure that it was accurate because there was some reports about this a few months ago. But I was a little bit hesitant to be too excited about it and excited for him and his family. But yes, this comes as a huge shock. But again, it does make me think that perhaps, as I said earlier, that I think, I wonder if the US government was just nervous for this case to continue because these two judges who were also going to hear the case on appeal on July 9th and 10th, they were questioning the Crown Prosecution Service representing the US government during the hearing. They were taking a different tone in all of this. So I do think that perhaps could have played a role. Hopefully we'll learn more. Definitely, we will learn more. There's going to be so much pressure to unpack this by all the various people, organizations that have come to support him in recent years, as well as the journalists. I think this is potentially huge and very positive and all we can be is thankful at this point. And also for yourself, I know you've been dedicated a lot of your time and you're reporting as an independent journalist covering this, raising awareness of this story and yourself and many others have been absolutely determined to keep talking about it, keep it in the social media feeds and keep it in the conversation. So your work as well, as many others, has not gone unnoticed, Taylor, and we all appreciate that. Thank you very much. It's been well worth it. Thank you as well for your great work and for the listeners and the activists and those who continue to raise awareness. Thank you very much. Taylor Hoodack, independent journalist, really appreciate you joining us on TNT this week. Thank you for having me. She goes ladies and gentlemen as Taylor Hoodack, follow her on X Twitter, follow her social media feed. She's doing some great reporting on this case, but other cases and other stories as well. Right now, however, let's take a break with the network and when we come back, we will connect with the TNT political editor at large, at large, Basil Valentine, larger than life on the other side. I'm Patrick Kennington. We'll be back in a moment.
