“It should not be lost upon anyone that there are leaks of classified information to the media just about every day,” added David Coombs, the lawyer who represented former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning during the 2013 trial about the leak of thousands of diplomatic cables and military reports to WikiLeaks.

Some Republicans argue that it is high time for Assange, who has been living under asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012, to face justice.

“This is cut and dried: WikiLeaks is an outlet for foreign propaganda, and Julian Assange is an enemy of the American people,” said Sen. Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican. “He deserves to spend the rest of his life in an American prison.”

But many influential conservatives gleefully celebrated the release of Clinton’s emails in 2016 and have hailed Assange, 47, as a whistle-blower.