Help protect the First Amendment rights of journalists (including those who reveal US war crimes!) by calling Rep. Jim McGovern and asking him to sign on to a letter drafted by Rep. Rashida Tlaib to Attorney General Merrick Garland. The letter asks the Attorney General to drop criminal charges against journalist Julian Assange and withdraw the US government's request for his extradition.
Rep. McGovern's office phone numbers are 202-225-6101 (Washington, DC) and 413-341-8700 (Northampton, MA)
Here is a sample script; feel free to use your own words:
My name is (name), I am a resident of (location) and a constituent of Rep. McGovern’s. I am calling to urge the representatives to speak out against the prosecution of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange and to sign Rep. Tlaib’s letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for the charges to be dropped. Assange is the first publisher indicted under the Espionage Act. The US indictment against him stems from publishing information about US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, and the State Department. This information included revelations about human rights abuses and other abuses of power by the US government.
The Obama Administration declined to bring charges against Julian Assange, because any precedent set against Assange could be used against the New York Times and other mainstream papers. Nearly every human rights, press freedom, and civil liberties group has opposed the prosecution of Julian Assange given its grave ramifications for the First Amendment.
I commend the representative's history of speaking out on human rights issues. The prosecution of a publisher for exposing US war crimes is the press freedom issue of our times. I urge the representative to be on the right side of history by signing on to Rep. Tlaib's letter calling for the charges against Assange to be dropped.