Julian Assange is concerned not about any proceedings in Sweden as such, but believe that his deportation to Sweden could lead to politically motivated deportation to the United States, where he could face severe penalties, up to the death sentence, for his activities related to WikiLeaks. On 16 August 2012, Foreign Minister Patiño announced that Ecuador was granting Assange political asylum because of the threat represented by the United States secret investigation against him and several calls for assassination from many American politicians. In its formal statement, Ecuador reasoned that "as a consequence of [Assange's] determined defense to freedom of expression and
Julian Assange apparent favouritism towards Clinton, leading to the resignation of party chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. "The New York Times" reported that "Assange accused Mrs. Clinton of having been among those pushing to indict him..." and that he had timed the release to coincide with the 2016 Democratic National Convention. In an interview with Robert Peston of "ITV News" Assange suggested that he saw Hillary Clinton as a personal foe. On 26 August 2016, Assange spoke to Fox News and said that Clinton was causing "hysteria about Russia" after the Democratic Party, along with a number of cybersecurity experts and cybersecurity firms,