Assange to RT: ‘Civil behavior does not apply to Obama’ (PREVIEW)

As Ecuador considers taking Julian Assange’s case to the ICC, the purveyor of secrets gave an exclusive interview to RT’s sister Spanish channel. Assange shared his views on NSA and the future of freedom of information on Eva Golinger’s ‘Behind the News.’

RT’s sister channel Actualidad caught up with the WikiLeaks founder in London. Assange shared his views on NSA scandal in Latin America and the future of freedom of information.

The whistleblower, who was granted asylum by Ecuador last year and since then been waiting in the country’s embassy in London for safe passage, shared his thoughts on how WikiLeaks helped saved Edward Snowden – the prominent NSA leaker – from a US manhunt.

“We were involved in filling out the asylum requests for Edward Snowden formally and informally for around 20 different nations. Some because we thought there was a decent chance, others because we wanted to show the public the refusals, to generate some public debate and awareness how their government is behaving,” Assange said.

“In terms of those nations that stepped forward, it was Latin America and Russia, not all of Latin America either – Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador showing a keen interest. “

Speaking on the topic of President Obama’s recent declaration on US exceptionalism, Assange was quick to point out that such this was reflected in American power to violate laws.

“Whenever you see the President talk about exceptionalism what he is trying to say is that rules of civil behavior do not apply to him. Whether that is invading some other country or whether that is abuse of laws at home,” Assange said.

The Australian native went on to criticize the US leadership saying that the White House was abusing its power more than any other administration in history.

“Barack Obama has prosecuted more people under the Espionage Act, more journalistic sources under the Espionage Act than all the previous presidents combined going back to 1917. In fact, he has prosecuted double that number. This is a deliberate decision by the White House to create a chilling effect using the Espionage Act as opposed to some other mechanism.”

For more on Assange revelations tune in this Friday to RT to see the full version of this interview, in which the journalist recounts his experience after spending over a year in Ecuador’s embassy in London.