Representative Ron Paul said Friday that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange should not face prosecution for his distribution of nearly 250,000 classified and Top Secret documents.
Mr. Paul came to the defense of Mr. Assange after Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department was studying whether to charge Assange with a crime for releasing thousands of leaked government documents.
Mr. Paul told Fox News that the notion of prosecuting Mr. Assange for the release of information is disturbing and it should not be pursued.
“In a free society we’re supposed to know the truth,” Mr. Paul said. “In a society where truth becomes treason, then we’re in big trouble. And now, people who are revealing the truth are getting into trouble for it.”
Mr. Paul compared Wikileaks to the New York Times, saying that the latter had not been prosecuted for virtually the same thing.
Mr. Paul’s defense comes in the wake of a number of U.S. Senators calling for a bill restricting individual’s ability to leak documents.