Ron Paul: If We Prosecute Wikileaks We Should Prosecute the Washington Post and New York Times

Texas Congressman Ron Paul discusses the confidential document release of US State Department files by Wikileaks.

It has been charged by self proclaimed experts that Julian Assange, the internet publisher of this information, has committed a heinous crime deserving prosecution for treason, and execution, or even assassination.

But should we not at least ask how the US government can charge an Australian citizen for treason for publishing US secret information that he did not steal? And if Wikileaks is to be prosecuted for publishing classified documents, why shouldn’t the Washington Post, the New York Times and others that have also published these documents be prosecuted.

Actually, some in Congress are threatening this as well.

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If Assange can be convicted of a crime for publishing information that he did not steal, what does this say about the future of the first amendment and the independence of the internet?

Ron Paul on the House floor: