Tonight, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange late today landing back on
US territory to plead guilty after fighting extradition for years,
where he will then go free.
Terry Moran has covered this case for years for us.
Tonight, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks and fugitive from
justice,
is back on US territory,
landing in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands to appear
at the remote federal courthouse there and enter a guilty
plea that will set him free.
Assange boarding a private jet in London,
relaxing on board during the long flight after spending five
years in a high security UK prison.
Held there by authorities while US prosecutors sought his extradition,
he agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of
conspiracy to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information.
And in exchange, he won't serve any more time with
WikiLeaks.
Assange rocked governments around the world,
releasing troves of state secrets,
especially about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Including this 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Iraq.
That killed several civilians, including two journalists.
We hope to correct some of that attack on the
truth.
In 2012, Assange, fleeing arrest,
sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and hold
up there until 2019,
when his hosts kicked him out and the British government
put him in prison.
And tonight, after years of being celebrated as a hero
and condemned as a thief trafficking in stolen documents,
he'll be a free man.
I'll really believe it when I have him in front
of me and,
and I can take him and hug him and then
it will be real.
Assange's health has deteriorated. Imprisoned,
his family says he once faced up to 170 years
behind bars.
But now he's heading back home to Australia where his
wife and two sons are waiting for him.
David Terry Moran in Washington.
Thank you, Terry.