U.S. Reps. James McGovern, D-Mass., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote a letter to President Biden calling on him to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to "send a clear message" that his administration will not target journalistic activity.

Assange, an Australian publisher, pleaded guilty in June and was sentenced to time served as part of a deal he reached with the U.S. Justice Department to end his imprisonment in London over charges for publishing classified U.S. military documents leaked to him by a source. Assange had spent years attempting to avoid extradition from the U.K. to the U.S.

"We write, first, to express our appreciation for your administration's decision last spring to facilitate a resolution of the criminal case against publisher Julian Assange and to withdraw the related extradition request that had been pending in the United Kingdom," the lawmakers wrote to Biden. "This brought an end to Mr. Assange's protracted detention and allowed him to reunite with his family and return to his home country of Australia."

Before his plea deal, Assange, 53, was facing 17 counts under the Espionage Act for allegedly receiving, possessing and communicating classified information to the public, as well as one charge alleging conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. The agreement helped him avoid the potential of spending up to 175 years in an American maximum security prison.

WIKILEAKS' JULIAN ASSANGE SAYS HE PLEADED 'GUILTY TO JOURNALISM' IN ORDER TO BE FREED

The charges were brought by the Trump administration's Justice Department over WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of cables leaked by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, and the Biden administration had continued to pursue prosecution until the plea deal. The cables detailed alleged war crimes committed by the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp, as well as instances of the CIA engaging in torture and rendition.

WikiLeaks' "Collateral Murder" video showing the U.S. military gunning down civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists, was also published 14 years ago.

The lawmakers told Biden, who is set to leave office in January, that they are "deeply concerned that the agreement that ended the case required Mr. Assange to plead guilty to felony charges under section 793 of the Espionage Act," highlighting that the decision to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act "set off alarms" among members of Congress, as well as advocates for freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

In 2013, the Obama administration decided not to indict Assange over WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of classified cables because it would have had to also indict journalists from major news outlets who published the same materials.

President Obama also commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence for violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses to seven years in January 2017, and Manning, who had been imprisoned since 2010, was released later that year.

"Put simply, there is a long-standing and well-grounded concern that section 793, which criminalizes the obtaining, retaining, or disclosing of sensitive information, could be used against journalists and news organizations engaged in their normal activities, particularly those who cover national security topics. This risk reportedly informed the Obama administration's decision not to prosecute Mr. Assange," McGovern and Massie wrote.

JULIAN ASSANGE SECURES FREEDOM FOLLOWING PLEA DEAL WITH US, SENTENCED TO TIME SERVED

Assange had been held at London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since being removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11, 2019, for breaching bail conditions. He had sought asylum at the embassy since 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden over allegations he raped two women because Sweden would not provide assurances it would protect him from extradition to the U.S. The investigations into the sexual assault allegations were eventually dropped over lack of evidence.

He was the first journalist to be charged under the Espionage Act.

"The terms of Mr. Assange's plea agreement have now set a precedent that greatly deepens our concern," the letter reads. "A review of prosecutions under the Espionage Act makes clear that Mr. Assange's case is the first time the Act has been deployed against a publisher."

The congressmen said they share the view of Jodie Ginsberg, the chief executive of the Committee to Protect Journalists, who reacted to the plea agreement by saying: "While we welcome the end of his detention, the US’s pursuit of Assange has set a harmful legal precedent by opening the way for journalists to be tried under the Espionage Act if they receive classified material from whistleblowers."

"We therefore urge you to consider issuing a pardon for Mr. Assange," the lawmakers wrote. "A pardon would remove the precedent set by the plea and send a clear message that the U.S. government under your leadership will not target or investigate journalists and media outlets simply for doing their jobs."

Last year, as Assange was still in prison in London fighting extradition to the U.S., McGovern and Massie led a letter to Biden signed by a bipartisan group of congressional colleagues urging the president to drop the case against Assange.

Assange's brother, Gabriel Shipton, is returning to Washington, D.C., in January as part of a campaign calling on Biden to pardon the WikiLeaks founder before leaving office.

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER, REACHES PLEA DEAL TO AVOID PRISON IN US

Shipton and Assange's wife, Stella, have asked Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who before the plea deal had called for an end to Assange's prosecution and said he had raised the case with Biden, to urge the president to issue a pardon in his farewell phone call with the outgoing commander in chief.

As a condition of his plea, Assange was required to destroy classified information provided to WikiLeaks.

During his sentencing hearing in June in federal court in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific, U.S. District Judge Ramona Manglona noted that the U.S. government admitted that there is no evidence that WikiLeaks' publications put anyone in harms way.

"The government has indicated there is no personal victim here. That tells me the dissemination of this information did not result in any known physical injury," the judge said at the time. "These two facts are very relevant. I would say if this was still unknown and closer to [2012] I would not be so inclined to accept this plea agreement before me. But it's the year 2024."

House Speaker Mike Johnson made a clarification on Tuesday after previously declining to answer a reporter's question on whether transgender Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., is a man or a woman. 

"I just want to make a statement for all of you here and be very clear: I was asked a question this morning at the leadership gaggle, and I rejected the premise because the answer is so obvious," Johnson told reporters in the Capitol Tuesday afternoon. "For anybody who doesn’t know my well-established record on this issue, let me be unequivocally clear: A man is a man, and a woman is a woman. And a man cannot become a woman." 

"That said, I also believe that’s what Scripture teaches, what I just said. But I also believe that we treat everybody with dignity, and so we can do and believe all those things at the same time," he added. "And I wanted to make that clear for everybody because there are lots of questions. But that’s where I stand. I’ve stood there my whole life, and those are facts." 

At the House GOP weekly press conference earlier Tuesday, a reporter had asked Johnson, "Is freshman elect Sarah McBride a man or a woman?" 

JOHNSON DECLINES TO SAY IF TRANSGENDER REP-ELECT IS MAN OR WOMAN, SAYS HOUSE TO TREAT EVERYONE WITH 'RESPECT'
 

"Look, I'm not going to get into this. We welcome all new members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of the people," Johnson responded. "I believe it's a … command that we treat all persons with dignity and respect, and we will."

The question came after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced a resolution on Monday that moves to prohibit members, officers and employees of the House from using "single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex." 

Asked if the resolution was in response to McBride coming to Congress, Mace said Tuesday, "Yes, and absolutely, and then some." 

TRANSGENDER WOMEN TO BE BANNED FROM CAPITOL HILL FEMALE BATHROOMS UNDER NEW HOUSE GOP PROPOSAL

"I'm not going to stand for a man, you know, someone with a penis in the woman's locker room, that's not OK," Mace said. "I'm a victim of abuse myself. I'm a rape survivor. I have PTSD from the abuse I suffered at the hands of a man. And I know how vulnerable women and girls are in private spaces. So I'm absolutely, 100% going to stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a woman's restroom, in our locker rooms, in our changing rooms. I will be there fighting you every step of the way." 

Outside the Capitol later Tuesday, Mace said Johnson told her on Monday that he would add her resolution to the House rules package. 

"And if it doesn't end up there, I will amend the house rules package," Mace said. "And I also have a privilege motion ready to go if it's not in the House rules package for 119th Congress. I will force a vote on this. This is not okay. I'm a survivor of sexual abuse. The idea of having a man in a women's restroom, locker room, or changing room is repulsive, and I will not allow it. And in fact, I'm not stopping here. This doesn't end with Capitol Hill. I'm filing legislation tonight. You guys can wait with bated breath for what that's about. But I am not going to allow this. I'm going to ensure that every woman and girl across the country is protected from this insanity." 

"And today I'm receiving death threats from men pretending to be women who are willing to kill me over my right and women's rights that I'm fighting for," Mace added. "It's insanity. It's nonsense. And I'm going to stand up and fight back against the radical left all day long, every day, 365 days a year. Good luck. Come at me, bro." 

In X posts on Monday, McBride had derided the resolution as "a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing."