Without Julian Assange and the men and women of WikiLeaks, where would we be at this point in our nation’s history? Debbie Wasserman Schultz would still be running the DNC, Donna Brazile would still be offering “objective” analysis on CNN, and John Podesta’s UFO fascination might dominate the inner world of Clinton’s campaign. Most importantly, we would never have known Hillary Clinton admitted Saudi Arabia and Qatar provide clandestine support to ISIS, while accepting millions in donations from these countries to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton’s duplicity pertaining to foreign policy is highlighted in this WikiLeaks email, where she states “While this military/para-military operation is moving, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region.”

Does America benefit from being aware of this information?

Of course, the United States benefits, and voters have been allowed to pierce through the propaganda of New York Times journalists (giving articles to the Clinton campaign to edit before publication) and a media machine beholden to Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, it’s no secret Julian Assange is in arbitrary detention. According to The Guardian, “A United Nations panel has decided that Julian Assange’s three-and-a-half years in the Ecuadorian embassy amount to “arbitrary detention”, leading his lawyers to call for the Swedish extradition request to be dropped immediately.” Essentially, Julian Assange is being unlawfully detained, primarily because he’s a publisher that removes the curtain from government secrets and political propaganda.

His alleged crimes have no basis in any legal precedent, especially since WikiLeaks doesn’t hack or steal any documents. It publishes newsworthy material and as Glenn Greenwald states in On WikiLeaks, Journalism, and Privacy: Reporting on the Podesta Archive Is an Easy Call, “Journalists constantly publish material that is stolen or illegally obtained.” If any charges were to be leveled against Assange or WikiLeaks, everyone from The New York Times and Washington Post to The Guardian and publications around the planet would eventually face similar consequences; they’ve published and analyzed WikiLeaks emails.

In addition, Donna Brazile would have every right to sue CNN for wrongful termination, especially since CNN parted ways with Brazil because of WikiLeaks emails. Five DNC officials, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz would also have reason to sue the DNC, especially since “heads rolled” at the DNC because of WikiLeaks. Ironically, the same people blaming Russia for stolen emails are also the same people being forced to resign from positions of power. Would there be a Trump administration without American voters learning that Bernie Sanders was cheated, or that Bill Clinton earned over $50 million from his charitable foundation?

Most importantly, President Trump’s Justice Department can use WikiLeaks emails to indict and prosecute Hillary Clinton—even with a pardon from President Obama. On 4:16 of this Fox News video with Rudy Giuliani and Sean Hannity, the former New York Mayor makes the following statement:

HANNITY: Amazing. If you were the attorney general — GIULIANI: What about Abedin, Cooper, Mills, Pagliano, the guys who took the Fifth and apparently committed perjury. WikiLeaks, you’ve got the proof of the perjury. There’s a whole group of them out there that the Justice Department, an honest Justice Department would be pursuing. And I can tell you that the FBI is pursuing it.

Mayor Giuliani, answering a question about how he would prosecute perjury cases as Trump’s attorney general, states “Wikileaks, you’ve got the proof of the perjury.”

Even if certain WikiLeaks emails aren’t allowed in a court of law, DOJ prosecutors can use the revelations and insights found in thousands of other WikiLeaks emails to learn when Clinton or her team lied to the public. Simply asking Cheryl Mills when she knew of Clinton’s server, or Podesta when he wanted to “dump the emails,” undermines the official narrative that everyone (even President Obama) was unaware Clinton used a private server. If Trump’s DOJ allows WikiLeaks emails to be used as evidence in a court of law, then there’s no way Clinton’s team evades prosecution.

Even CNN sees the writing on the wall pertaining to WikiLeaks emails being used in a Clinton Foundation investigation:

Investigators at the FBI’s New York office, who unsuccessfully argued for months that they should be allowed to open a full-blown investigation of the foundation, could find a more friendly audience in a Donald Trump administration Justice Department… He promised there would more investigations of the Clintons if he were elected. Soon, top officials he appoints at the Justice Department will have the power make that happen. And the FBI investigators may have more ammunition to make their case with stolen emails from Clinton aides released in recent weeks by WikiLeaks.

Therefore, Mayor Giuliani and FBI investigators would have “more ammunition to make their case” by using WikiLeaks emails in court.

If America benefits from WikiLeaks and the FBI and Trump’s administration can use WikiLeaks emails to prosecute criminals, President-elect Trump should pardon Julian Assange as one of his first obligations as president. In terms of political capital, millennials, progressives, and independents would be forever grateful; even with Democrats and media galvanized against Trump’s immigration policies. From a purely political standpoint, pardoning Julian Assange would be a noble act that endears Trump to a vocal segment of the Democratic Party.

In terms of legal precedent, it would be difficult to use WikiLeaks emails in court, yet simultaneously demand Assange face legal consequences for publishing these emails. Pardoning Assange allows Trump’s DOJ to utilize an enormous amount of information. The best thing Trump can do at this juncture, with the media and Democrats uniting against his presidency, is pardon Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Doing so would give him a boost in support that can’t be measured by opinion polls, especially since WikiLeaks is vital to the lives of millions around the globe.