Despite once being targeted by WikiLeaks and speaking out against founder Julian Assange, Sarah Palin is now calling for a presidential pardon.
"I think Julian did the right thing, and Julian did us all a favor in America — did the world a favor — by fighting for what he believed was right and ultimately he's been proven to be right," Palin, the former vice presidential candidate, said in a video posted on YouTube.
"He deserves a pardon. He deserves all of us to understand more about what he has done in the name of real journalism, and that's getting to the bottom of real issues the public really needs to hear about and benefit from."
Palin had her email account hacked and exposed by WikiLeaks in 2008, including family photos, private messages, and government emails.
"I am the first one to admit when I make a mistake," Palin began in the video. "I admit I made a mistake some years ago not supporting Julian Assange, and thinking that he was a bad guy — that he leaked material that perhaps he shouldn't have.
"I've learned a lot since then."
Palin had called for Assange to be pursued like al-Qaida and Taliban terrorist leaders, per Business Insider.
Palin began her awakening in 2017, posting on Facebook, per BI: "This important information that finally opened people's eyes to democrat candidates and operatives would not have been exposed were it not for Julian Assange."
Assange, who faces extradition to the United States, was arrested in 2019 after seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for six years.
"Some years ago I publicly spoke out against Julian and I made a mistake," Palin concluded on the video. "I want more Americans to speak out on his behalf and to understand what it is that he has done, what has been done to him as he has been working on the people's behalf to allow information to get to us so we could make up our minds about different issues of different people.
"He did the right thing and I support him. And I hope that more and more people, especially as it comes down to the wire, will speak up in support of pardoning Julian. God bless him."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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