Julian Assange pleads guilty to publishing American military secrets — opens door to Australia return

Julian Assange has pleaded guilty to publishing classified American military secrets, according to reports –  opening the door for the WikiLeaks founder to return home to Australia for the first time in 14 years.

Assange admitted to a felony count of violating the Espionage Act Wednesday morning local time in the US district court in Saipan, the Washington Post reported.

The Wikileaks founder requested the hearing in the far-flung US city due to its proximity to Australia, Assange’s attorney reportedly told Chief Judge Ramona Manglona.

Under the terms of the plea, he won’t spend another day behind bars after he received credit for the time he spent in a high-security British prison.

Before his stint in prison, he camped out in the Ecuadorian Embassy for years to avoid extradition to Sweden over rape and sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.

The now-closed case initially started in 2010 when one woman accused him of rape and another accused him of molestation, eventually leading to Swedish police issuing a international arrest warrant.

After a district court in Britain determined Assange should be hauled back to Sweden, he entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in an asylum bid that was granted in 2012. Swedish prosecutors later fully dropped the investigation in 2019.

Assange was released from jail and took a private jet on Monday to Saipan, the capital of the secluded island that has been an American territory since 1986. He shelled out $500,000 to avoid landing anywhere on the US homeland. Instead, he made a brief pit stop in Bangkok so the plane could refuel.

He initially arrived at Saipan International Airport and then traveled in a motorcade that took him to the court.

The deal struck between federal prosecutors and Assange was revealed in court papers Monday night after a lengthy legal standoff.

“Imagine. From over 5 years in a small cell in a maximum security prison,” WikiLeaks wrote in a post. “Nearly 14 years detained in the UK. To this.”

Assange’s website revealed war logs and diplomatic cables that delved into US military action in Iraq and Afghanistan. He worked with ex-Army intelligence Chelsea Manning to obtain many of the secret records.

While prosecutors argued he threatened national security, defenders of Assange have heralded him for helping shed light on events otherwise kept away from the public.

Assange’s wife, Stella, said the case should have been dropped.

“When we met he was under house arrest. It will be the first time that I get to see him as a fully free man,” she told Reuters.

He was originally indicted on 18 charges by the feds in May 2019.