Rep. Ro Khanna Rohit (Ro) KhannaThe Hill Interview: Jerry Brown on climate disasters, COVID-19 and Biden's 'Rooseveltian moment' Congress needs to prioritize government digital service delivery DeJoy defends Postal Service changes at combative House hearing MORE (D-Calif.), a co-chairman for Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersKenosha will be a good bellwether in 2020 Biden's fiscal program: What is the likely market impact? McConnell accuses Democrats of sowing division by 'downplaying progress' on election security MORE’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign, spoke out Tuesday against charges by the Brazilian government against American journalist Glenn Greenwald, saying the country illustrated the need for Espionage Act reform in the U.S.

“Prosecuting reporters for doing their work will have chilling effect on journalism across the world,” Khanna tweeted Tuesday. “I'm crafting legislation to protect journalists from being prosecuted over their published work.”

Prosecuting reporters for doing their work will have chilling effect on journalism across the world.



I'm crafting legislation to protect journalists from being prosecuted over their published work. https://t.co/vh9cS3eLi0 — Rep. Ro Khanna (@RepRoKhanna) January 21, 2020

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Khanna wrote he is currently developing legislation to amend the law, which was the basis for federal charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Julian Paul AssangeAssange extradition hearing delayed over coronavirus concerns The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald discusses U.S. case against Assange Glenn Greenwald calls charges against Assange a threat to journalistic freedoms MORE to ensure it cannot be used to indict journalists.

"The Trump administration charging Assange opened up a chilling effect on journalism," Khanna told CBS News.

"If you are the recipient of information that is sensitive and you haven't been involved in assisting the collection of information, but you're just receiving that information from a source and publishing it for journalistic purposes — then you can't be prosecuted.”

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Khanna said that he hopes to work with Rep. Justin Amash Justin AmashOn The Trail: How Nancy Pelosi could improbably become president History is on Edward Snowden's side: Now it's time to give him a full pardon Trump says he's considering Snowden pardon MORE (I-Mich.), a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus who was later removed from it after leaving the Republican Party, as well as conservative members he believes may be similarly concerned about the potential for government overreach.

The eventual bill, he said, “will be a major protection for journalists' ability to work on these critical issues.”

Greenwald, who lives in Brazil, has been accused by prosecutors of cyber crimes in relation to his publication of private phone conversations involving high-level Brazilian officials. He has denied all charges and called them “an obvious attempt to attack a free press” in retaliation for his reporting on President Jair Bolsonaro's government.