Open Letter to President Trump:

Dear President Trump,

We are journalists, activists and citizens from the United States and around the world who care about press freedom and are writing to you in response to the latest threat of prosecution against WikiLeaks for its journalistic work. We ask you to immediately close the Grand Jury investigation into WikiLeaks and drop any charges against Julian Assange and other Wikileaks staff members which the Department of Justice is planning.

This threat to WikiLeaks escalates a long-running war of attrition against the great virtue of the United States — free speech. The Obama Administration prosecuted more whistleblowers than all presidents combined and opened a Grand Jury investigation into WikiLeaks that had no precedent. It now appears the US is preparing to take the next step — prosecuting publishers who provide the "currency" of free speech, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson. It is reported that charges, including conspiracy, theft of government property and violating the Espionage Act are being considered against members of WikiLeaks, and that charging WikiLeaks Editor, Julian Assange, is now a priority of the Department of Justice.

A threat to WikiLeaks' work — which is publishing information protected under the First Amendment — is a threat to all free journalism. If the DOJ is able to convict a publisher for its journalistic work, all free journalism can be criminalised.

We call on you as President of the United States to close the Grand Jury investigation into WikiLeaks and drop any charges planned against any member of WikiLeaks. It was a free and robust press that provided you with a platform on which to run for president. Defending a truly free press requires freedom from fear and favour and the support of journalists and citizens everywhere; for the kind of threat now facing WikiLeaks — and all publishers and journalists — is a step into the darkness.

Initial signatures: Alfonso Sánchez

activist Andrej Hunko

Member of German Parliament (DIE LINKE), member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Andrew Bartlett

Former Senator in the Australian Parliament - 1997-2008 Andrew Fowler

Journalist/author Andy Müller-Maguhn

Member of the Board, Wau Holland Foundation (WHS) / Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) Angela Richter

Director Ann Wright

Col., US Army (ret.); Foreign Service Officer (resigned) Annegret Falter

Whistleblower-Network Annie Machon

Former British intelligence officer Arjen Kamphuis

BeeHive4.2 Bastian Obermayer

Investigative journalist Benet Salellas

Lawyer and Diputy in the Catalan Parliament Brandon Bryant

Recipient of the 2015 Whistleblower of the Year Award Brennan Novak

Transparency Toolkit Carlos Enrique Bayo

Redactor Jefe de Investigación e Internacional, Publico, Madrid Carlos Latuff

Cartoonist Christian Grothoff

Researcher Christine Milne

Former Aust Greens Leader Cian Westmoreland

SrA USAF (Honorable Discharge), Veterans for Peace Coleen Rowley

FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.) Costas Efimeros

The Press Project Craig Murray

Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Daniel Ellsberg

Former State and Defense Dept. official, released Top Secret Pentagon Papers in 1971 Daniel Richter

Artist Daniel Sommer

Courage France, PDG DS Invest David Fernández

Journalist David Swanson

Director of World Beyond War, campaign coordinator of RootsAction.org Diani Barreto

Journalist, researcher, campaigner, coordinator at ExposeFacts Dr George Gittoes AM

2015 Sydney Peace Prize, Artist,Filmmaker,War Witness,Founder Yellow House Jalalabad Edward Snowden

President, Freedom of the Press Foundation Elizabeth Murray

Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Near East, CIA and National Intelligence Council (ret.) Eva Blum-Dumontet

researcher Felicity Ruby

PhD Candidate, Sydney University Frederik Obermaier

Investigative Journalist Friedrich Moser

director A GOOD AMERICAN Geoffroy de Lagasnerie

Philosopher and professor at Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts de Paris-Cergy (ENSAPC) Gerard Goggin

ARC Future Fellow, Professor of Media and Communications, Department of Media and Communications Giordano

The Juice Media Günter Wallraff

Investigative journalist Harry Karanikas

Journalist Helen Razer

Australian journalist Ilija Trojanow

Author J.M. Porup

Journalist Jean-Michel Jarre

composer Jeff Cohen

Director of Park Center for Independent Media, Ithaca College Jeff Sparrow

Writer, editor and broadcaster Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Ph.D. Jérémie Zimmermann

La Quadrature du Net, co-founder Jérôme Hourdeaux

Journalist Jimmy Schulz

Chairman LOAD e.V & Vice Chairman ISOC Germany Joan Llinares

Director of the Transparency Office of the Barcelona City Council Johannes Wahlström

Investigative journalist and filmmaker John Kiriakou

Former CIA Counterterrorism Officer John Pilger

journalist, Courage Trustee Jordi Angusto

Economist Juan Branco

writer and lawyer Ken Loach

film director Kevin Zeese

Co-director, Popular Resistance Kirk Wiebe

NSA Whistleblower and Retired Senior Intelligence Analyst Leif Ryge

Researcher Linda Lewis

WMD preparedness policy analyst, US Dept of Agriculture (ret.) Lisa Ling

TSgt USAF (ret.) Ludovic Courtès

GNU Project M. C. McGrath

Transparency Toolkit Mairead Maguire

Nobel Peace Prize winner Marie Gutbub

journalist Marie-Agnès Sommet

Courage France, Directrice Générale SRP Mark Weisbrot

Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research Mary Kostakidis

Former anchor, SBS world News Matt Kennard

Journalist Matthew Hoh

Former Capt., US Marine Corps, Iraq & Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan Michael Kreil

Data journalist Michael S. Kearns

Captain, US Air Force (Ret.) Monika Ermert

c't/heise online Moritz Bartl

Renewable Freedom Foundation Natalia Uval

Journalist, La Diaria newspaper, Uruguay Nicky Hager

Investigative journalist, New Zealand Noam Chomsky

linguist, MIT Norman Solomon

Coordinator, RootsAction.com Oliver Stone

filmmaker Pamela Anderson

Tenure Board Member Patrick Schiffer

Chairman Pirate Party Germany Patti Smith

artist Peter Kofod

independent journalist Peter Van Buren

Whistleblower, Department of State Philip Giraldi

CIA, Operations Officer (ret.) PJ Harvey

musician Pratap Chatterjee

Executive Director, CorpWatch Raimond Gaita

Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Law School & Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne, Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy, King's College London Ray McGovern

Former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst (ret.) and founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity as well as Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence Rebecca O'Brien

Producer, Sixteen Films Renata Avila

human rights lawyer, Courage Trustee Robert Naiman

Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy Robert Wing

Former Foreign Service Officer (associate VIPS) Sana Saleem

Journalist Scott Ludlam

Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia Senator Lee Rhiannon

Sergio Salgado

activist Simona Levi

Theater director and Activist Slavoj Žižek

philosopher, Birkbeck Institute for Humanities Srećko Horvat

philosopher and co-founder of DiEM25 Stefania Maurizi

Investigative journalist, La Repubblica, Italy Susan Benn

Senior Advisor to the Centre for Investigative Journalism, Courage Trustee Thomas Drake

Former Senior Executive, NSA Todd E. Pierce

MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (ret.) Tom Ballard

Comedian & Broadcaster Vivienne Westwood

fashion designer, Courage Trustee Volker Birk

pEp foundation Will Potter

Author William Binney

Technical Director, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.) Yanis Varoufakis

economist and co-founder of DiEM25