Plea deal: Julian Assange makes his way to US court and later freedom

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A plane carrying Julian Assange landed Tuesday in Bangkok for refueling, as the WikiLeaks founder was on his way to enter a plea deal with the U.S. government that will free him and resolve the legal case that spanned years and continents over the publication of a trove of classified documents. A chartered flight from London that Assange’s wife, Stella, confirmed was carrying her husband landed at Don Mueang International Airport. Officials there told The Associated Press the plane was scheduled to continue on to Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific, where Assange is expected to appear in court on Wednesday. He’s expected to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information, according to the U.S. Justice Department in a letter filed in court. Assange is expected to return to his home country of Australia after his plea and sentencing. The hearing is taking place in Saipan because of Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental U.S. and the court’s proximity to Australia, prosecutors said. British judicial officials confirmed that Assange left the U.K. on Monday evening after being granted bail at a secret hearing last week. “Thirteen-and-a-half years and two extradition requests after he was first arrested, Julian Assange left the U.K. yesterday, following a bail hearing last Thursday, held in private at his request,” said Stephen Parkinson, the chief prosecutor for England and Wales. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvoiXGD8UhXXKzbI-tYo_Ig Facebook: https://facebook.com/WeAreIowa X: https://x.com/weareiowa5news Instagram: https://instagram.com/weareiowa 💻 Stream Local 5 on WeAreIowa+: https://www.weareiowa.com/watch 📱 Download the We Are Iowa app: https://weareiowa.com/app 📩 Get Local 5’s "5 Things to Know" email newsletter in your inbox: https://weareiowa.com/email