Records of Keir Starmer’s trips to US to discuss Assange destroyed

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Declassified UK
30 Jun 2023 15:42
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US documents reveal that Starmer met with US Attorney General Eric Holder and a number of American and British national security officials in Washington when he was in charge of Julian Assange's planned extradition to Sweden in 2011.

Keir Starmer speaks about Brexit during a Labour Party event in Harlow, north of London, in November in 2020. (AFP)

In a shocking revelation, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), England and Wales’ public prosecutor, has removed all records of its former head Keir Starmer’s trips to the US, as per a report by Declassifed UK.

Starmer acted as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from 2008-13, a period when the body was supervising Julian Assange’s proposed extradition to Sweden to face questioning over sexual assault accusations.

Starmer, an MP since 2015, is now in charge of the Labour Party. Assange, meanwhile, is about to be extradited to the US where he may spend up to 175 years in jail for exposing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013, Starmer traveled to Washington, DC, at a cost to the British public of £21,603. While serving in the post, it was his most frequent travel destination. During his five years as DPP, Max Hill has only traveled to Washington once.

During Starmer’s time in his post, the CPS was flawed by the deformity surrounding the case of the WikiLeaks founder.

The organization has acknowledged deleting important Assange-related emails, particularly during the time when Starmer was in charge. Meanwhile, the CPS attorney in charge of the case told the Swedes in 2010 or 2011 not to travel to London to interview Assange, Declassified explained.

“Information held has been destroyed”

On the British side, there are no longer any official records of what Starmer did during his four journeys, but on the American side, certain details have come to light.

On November 9, 2011, Starmer and then-US Attorney General Eric Holder had a 45-minute meeting in Holder's office at the US Department of Justice (DoJ), as per US documents.

Assange's intended extradition to Sweden was being handled by Starmer's CPS at the time. Holder was questioned regarding WikiLeaks' cable disclosures in December 2010.

“We are doing everything that we can,” he said.

Commenting on whether he might mount a prosecution under the Espionage Act, Holder added: “That is certainly something that might play a role, but there are other statutes, other tools at our disposal.”

He proceeded by saying that as part of a criminal probe against WikiLeaks, he had given the go-ahead for a variety of vague acts.

“I personally authorized a number of things last week and that’s an indication of the seriousness with which we take this matter and the highest level of involvement at the Department of Justice,” he added.

The participants in the Starmer-Holder meeting at the DoJ suggest that it was focused on national security. It's probable that some of the vague moves against Assange and WikiLeaks that Holder alluded to the year prior were considered.

It is worth noting that Starmer was part of a British delegation comprising four others. This included Gary Balch, then UK liaison prosecutor to the US, who was also involved in Assange's extradition.

Amy Jeffress, who was the DoJ attaché at the US embassy in London at the time and had responsibility for working with the CPS, was designated as the point of contact for the US side. Prior to that position, she served as Attorney General Holder's National Security Advisor, "regularly interacting" with the US intelligence community.

In April 2019, when Assange was taken into custody at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Jeffress said as quoted by the Washington Post, “It will be some years before a final decision is reached – at least a year and probably longer.” She added: “These cases can become very political in the UK.”

As previously revealed by Declassified, the UK Home Office sent eight employees on a covert operation to seize Assange from his haven in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Given that Ecuador is a friendly nation and that the right to seek refuge is protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this was a very unusual action.

A cover-up?

The lack of disclosure of Assange-related papers by the CPS may fuel rumors of a cover-up. In April 2013, while Starmer was still in charge, the CPS denied Assange's request for access to the personal information it possessed on him, “because of the live matters still pending”.

Even GCHQ, the largest espionage organization in the UK, had complied with Assange's request for access to the personal data it possessed on him, which included a recording of one of its intelligence agents calling the Swedish investigation a "fit-up."