In an Aug. 13 tweet, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), called for repealing the Espionage Act, enacted by Congress in June 1917. This is the law which former President Donald Trump is “suspected” of violating, according to the Department of Justice. “The espionage act was abused from the beginning to jail dissenters of WWI,” Paul wrote. “It is long past time to repeal this egregious affront to the 1st Amendment.”
In his tweet, Paul included a link to an article published in 2019 by Jacob Homberger, founder of the Future of Freedom Foundation, who also called for the repeal of the Espionage Act, but in connection with the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Homberger called the Espionage Act a “tyrannical law” that had been enacted to punish political dissidents and was now being used by U.S. officials to secure the criminal indictment of Assange, Newsweek reported.
Senator Paul had also previously called for Assange to be granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for coming to the U.S. and testifying.
