Comments posted by Vidar in the group chat, quote:

I agree it makes Zero sense to you or me. Though I can guess some potential motivating factors:

Assange public supporters aren't going down in numbers. I would guestimate there are more supporters now than 10 years ago, and there would have been more demonstrations. Growing public outrage.

The Deep State trying to make it look good for Biden before election. *See links

The USA prosecutors could see that their case was weakening as time continued, and they offered Assange a simple guilty plea Today, rather than lose the case completely after another 5 years.

his sources:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/24/politics/julian-assange-plea-deal-biden-administration/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68784298