Clapper: Assange has 'sort of paid his dues'

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper reacted to Julian Assange’s plea deal Monday, saying that the WikiLeaks founder has “sort of paid his dues” already.

Clapper — who served as director of national intelligence in 2010, when WikiLeaks published the trove of classified military and intelligence documents — said Monday that Assange's plea deal "came out pretty well."

“I think critical to this was his plea of one count of espionage. I think the law enforcement community and the Intelligence Community wouldn't have bought into this without that,” he said on CNN’s “Laura Coates Live.”

“But he has served essentially seven years of incarceration in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He was released from that and then the Brits arrested him. He did 62 months in jail. Hard time in London. So, he has sort of, you know, paid his dues,” he added.

Assange has spent the last five years in a British prison to avoid extradition to the U.S. to face the charges in connection to the documents. He agreed Monday to plead guilty to one felony charge under the Espionage Act, in a deal that would allow him credit for time served in the U.K., avoiding prison in the U.S.

Assange was indicted on 18 charges, including 17 espionage charges and one for computer misuse, following the release of the classified documents. 

Clapper said that while he thinks Assange has served his time, people should not think it is “okay” to reveal classified information.

“I think another issue here, speaking on behalf of the Intelligence Community, is you can't have a system where people on their own unilaterally decide, well, I just think it's okay to expose all this classified information when they've made a commitment to protect it. That, to me, is very important principle to bear in mind here,” he said.

“But again, where I began, I think justice is served,” he added.