Kennedy indicated that a plea deal could end the US criminal prosecution of Assange and help him avoid extradition from the United Kingdom, where he is currently held in a jail, the newspaper reported. She added that the Assange matter was an "ongoing case" that is currently being worked on by the US Justice Department.
"So it's not really a diplomatic issue, but I think that there absolutely could be a resolution," Kennedy told the newspaper when asked if she thought there could be a diplomatic outcome between the US and Australia on the case.
Since April 2019, Assange has been held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison while he faces prosecution in the US under the Espionage Act. If convicted, the WikiLeaks founder could face 175 years in prison. In December 2022, he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to fight his extradition.
WikiLeaks was founded by Assange on October 4, 2006, but rose to prominence in 2010 when it began publishing large-scale leaks of classified government information, including from the US.