Julian Assange is not a hero, former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Thursday, while responding to news of the WikiLeaks founder's arrest at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
"He apparently aided and assisted in the leak of classified information," Johnson told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "At some point, there may be a debate whether he is a legitimate journalist and that was journalist activity, but I do not regard him as a hero."
Earlier on the program, Judge Andrew Napolitano, the network's senior judicial analyst commented that he believes Assange to be a hero for publishing "truthful information that the American public and the world had the right to see," but Johnson disagreed.
"Hacking is not okay," said Johnson. "Hacking into a computer without one's consent is a federal crime."
Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy noted that it has been suggested that others gave Assange and WikiLeaks information, meaning he was the "publisher, albeit online."
"There may be a claim that what he was doing was legitimate journalist activity and what constitutes a journalist is a more complex question in the age of the internet but I do not regard him as a hero," Johnson said.
He noted that Assange is also wanted in Sweden for sexual assault charges, and he predicted there will be a "lengthy extradition proceeding" to bring him to the United States that could take "quite some time to litigate."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.