The Justice Department and FBI have used “vague threats and pressure tactics” in an attempt to gain compliance with journalists, reporter James Ball said, citing his own experience being pressured by government officials.
Ball briefly worked and lived with Assange, who is imprisoned in the UK and faces the possibility of extradition to the United States for allegedly violating the Espionage Act.
In 2013, Ball published an article critical of WikiLeaks, its handling of US State Department cables, and its relationship with writer Israel Shamir. The US government sought to make official claims made in the article by convincing Ball to provide testimony on the matter, the report said.
UK law enforcement officials contacted Ball in 2021 and told his lawyer during a meeting that they work closely with US intelligence agencies and alleged that “James Ball” is not a real identity, the report said. Ball said he burst out in laughter at the shock and affirmed that James Ball is his legitimate and unchanged birth name.
A US Justice Department prosecutor later contacted Ball’s lawyers and alleged that Shamir had stated Ball provided him with cables on “the Jews,” the report said. “Upon seeing those words from Shamir, I cannot help but ask whether Mr. Ball would reconsider his decision about speaking to the investigators, even if only just to respond to Shamir’s allegations,” the report quoted the prosecutor as saying.
Ball declined the US Justice Department’s request and his lawyers advised him not to visit the US, where he could be more easily subpoenaed or arrested, or talk publicly about the situation, the report said.
Three other journalists who previously worked with Assange have since been contacted by law enforcement, the report said, adding that all of them have made clear their intention not to cooperate. “In other words, I wasn’t the only one worried about the ‘voluntary’ request I had received,” Ball said in the report. “The two years spent not traveling to the US, on legal advice, has stifled stories I would otherwise have written for US outlets. I had a credible fear of prosecution.”
The Justice Department’s actions are endangering the media’s constitutional rights, the report said. Ball calls on the Biden administration to explain its handling of the Assange case and why it is worth stifling journalistic efforts, according to the report.