On Julian Assange: Marianne Williamson in Conversation with Daniel Ellsberg

Today, Daniel Ellsberg is considered a national hero, but that wasn’t always the case. 50 years after the publication of the Pentagon Papers which exposed the atrocities committed during the Vietnam War, Ellsberg talks to Marianne about the great lengths Nixon’s government went to silence him, including raiding his psychotherapist’s office after charging him under the Espionage Act of 1917. A similar silencing is taking place now. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has also been charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 relating to classified material he published in 2010 about the war in Iraq, and according to Ellsberg the effort to punish him is as much a violation of the First Amendment as was the government’s case against Ellsberg 50 years ago. Ellsberg and Marianne talk about the impact of the Pentagon Papers, the importance of speaking up for Assange and how the U.S. government’s case against him puts the free press at risk.