{"id":270574,"date":"2023-07-01T05:37:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T05:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=270574"},"modified":"2023-07-02T07:32:07","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T07:32:07","slug":"records-destroyed-of-starmer-trips-to-dc-during-assange-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=270574","title":{"rendered":"Records Destroyed of Starmer Trips to DC During Assange Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Matt Kennard \u2013 Consortium News June 29, 2023<\/strong><\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Among his trips, Starmer, then head of Crown Prosecution Service, led five-person British delegation that met with Eric Holder for 45 minutes in Washington in November 2011<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Delegation included the U.K. liaison prosecutor to the U.S., who dealt with extradition<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Meeting was also attended by head of U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s national security division<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>CPS refuses to clarify to\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>Declassified UK\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><strong>if destruction of the Washington documents is routine procedure<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>T<\/strong>he Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), England and Wales\u2019 public prosecutor, has deleted all records of its former head Keir Starmer\u2019s trips to the U.S., it can be revealed.<\/p>\n<p>Starmer served as director of public prosecutions (DPP) from 2008-13, a period when the body was overseeing Julian Assange\u2019s proposed extradition to Sweden to face questioning over sexual assault allegations.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_186704\" style=\"width: 370px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ASS-.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-186704\" class=\"wp-image-186704\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ASS-.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ASS-.png 766w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ASS--300x251.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-186704\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Assange gives Masonic sign of recognition while in custody of cop with Masonic checkered headband. Click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Starmer, who became an MP in 2015, is now leader of the Labour Party. Assange, meanwhile, faces imminent extradition to the U.S. to face up to 175 years in prison under charges mostly related to the U.S. Espionage Act.<\/p>\n<p>While DPP, Starmer made trips to Washington in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 at a cost to the British taxpayer of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/declassifieduk.org\/revealed-keir-starmer-billed-taxpayer-nearly-250000-for-travel-expenses-at-cps\/\">\u00a321,603<\/a>. It was his most frequent foreign destination while in post. Max Hill, the current DPP, has made just\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cps.gov.uk\/publication\/business-expenses\">one trip<\/a>\u00a0to Washington during his five-year tenure.<\/p>\n<p>During Starmer\u2019s time in post, the CPS was marred by irregularities surrounding the case of the <em>WikiLeaks\u00a0<\/em>founder.<\/p>\n<p>The organisation has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2017\/nov\/10\/uk-prosecutors-admit-destroying-key-emails-from-julian-assange-case\">admitted<\/a>\u00a0to destroying key emails related to the Assange case, mostly covering the period when Starmer was in charge, while the CPS lawyer overseeing the case advised the Swedes in 2010 or 2011 not to visit London to interview Assange.<\/p>\n<p>An interview at that time could have prevented the long-running embassy standoff.<\/p>\n<p>Assange and <em>WikiLeaks<\/em> began publishing classified U.S. diplomatic cables \u2014 in alliance with some of the world\u2019s largest newspapers \u2014 in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2010\/nov\/28\/us-embassy-cable-leak-diplomacy-crisis\">November 2010<\/a>. In the same month, Sweden\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2010\/nov\/18\/sweden-arrest-warrant-julian-assange\">issued<\/a>\u00a0an international arrest warrant for Assange over allegations of sexual misconduct, leading to a protracted legal battle, in which the CPS was heavily involved.<\/p>\n<p>Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi has been waging a years-long legal fight to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.casemine.com\/judgement\/uk\/5b35bf9d2c94e01ed25519ba\">access documents<\/a>\u00a0related to the CPS and Assange case. However, the role of its then head, Starmer, in the episode has always remained unclear.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Starmer in Washington<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Using the Freedom of Information Act,\u00a0<em>Declassified<\/em>\u00a0requested the itinerary for each of Starmer\u2019s four trips to Washington with details of his official meetings, including any briefing notes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold any information falling within the scope of your request,\u201d the public body told\u00a0<em>Declassified<\/em>. \u201cInformation held has been destroyed in line with retention schedules.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked by\u00a0<em>Declassified<\/em>\u00a0what these retention schedules are, the CPS pointed to its retention and disposal schedule\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cps.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/publications\/CPS%20Retention%20and%20Disposal%20Schedule%20202007Rev2ja%20update%200521.pdf\">policy<\/a>. But that document contains no references to time-limits on the preservation of CPS documents.<\/p>\n<p>Asked for clarification \u2014 and whether the destruction of Starmer\u2019s Washington documents was routine \u2014 the CPS did not respond.<\/p>\n<p>But while there is no longer any official record of what Starmer did on these four trips on the British side, some information has come to light on the U.S. side.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. records show that on Nov. 9, 2011, then U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder met with Starmer at his office at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for 45 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Starmer\u2019s CPS was then handling Assange\u2019s proposed extradition to Sweden. In December 2010, Holder had\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2010\/dec\/06\/wikileaks-cables-founder-julian-assange\">been asked<\/a>\u00a0about <em>WikiLeaks\u2019<\/em> cable releases. \u201cWe are doing everything that we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if he might mount a prosecution under the Espionage Act, Holder added: \u201cThat is certainly something that might play a role, but there are other statutes, other tools at our disposal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He continued that he had given the go-ahead for a number of unspecified actions as part of a criminal investigation into <em>WikiLeaks<\/em>. \u201cI personally authorised a number of things last week and that\u2019s an indication of the seriousness with which we take this matter and the highest level of involvement at the Department of Justice,\u201d Holder said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PIC-2-2-1024x496-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-270575\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PIC-2-2-1024x496-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"310\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Meeting at DOJ<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The personnel involved in the Starmer-Holder meeting at the DOJ indicates it had a national security focus. It is possible that some of the unspecified actions against <em>WikiLeaks<\/em> and Assange referenced by Holder the previous year were discussed.<\/p>\n<p>Starmer was part of a five-person British delegation. This included Gary Balch, then U.K. liaison prosecutor to the U.S., who dealt with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/uk.linkedin.com\/in\/gary-balch-a7189b35?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F\">extradition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Also present was Patrick Stevens, then head of the international division at the CPS, in which he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/uk.linkedin.com\/in\/patrick-stevens-bb088a23?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F\">developed<\/a>\u00a0and led CPS activities worldwide \u201cin support of U.S. national security.\u201d Stevens states that, at the time, he was \u201cat the heart of the U.S. government\u2019s national security and international justice strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alongside them sat Susan Hemming, then head of counter-terrorism at the CPS, who was in charge of issues\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk\/about-us\/guest-speakers\/susan-hemming-cbe\">related<\/a>\u00a0to \u2014 among other things \u2014 \u201cofficial secrets\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On the U.S. side, the point of contact was listed as Amy Jeffress, then the DOJ\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arnoldporter.com\/en\/people\/j\/jeffress-amy\">attach\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0at the U.S. embassy in London, a role which involved\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/amyjeffress\">coordinating<\/a>\u00a0with the CPS. Before that role, she had been national security counselor to Attorney General Holder which involved\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arnoldporter.com\/en\/people\/j\/jeffress-amy\">\u201cinterfacing regularly\u201d<\/a>\u00a0with the U.S. intelligence community.<\/p>\n<p>Jeffress moved from the DOJ in Washington to the U.S. embassy in London in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/amyjeffress\">September 2010<\/a>, two months after <em>WikiLeaks <\/em>began\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2010\/jul\/25\/afghanistan-war-logs-military-leaks\">publishing<\/a>\u00a0the Afghan War Diary. She would stay in London until 2014.<\/p>\n<p>When Assange was seized at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in April 2019, Jeffress\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/europe\/julian-assange-expelled-from-his-embassy-perch-will-fight-extradition-from-jail\/2019\/04\/12\/d388584c-5cb2-11e9-98d4-844088d135f2_story.html?noredirect=on\">told<\/a>\u00a0<em>The<\/em>\u00a0<em>Washington Post<\/em>: \u201cIt will be some years before a final decision is reached \u2014 at least a year and probably longer.\u201d She added: \u201cThese cases can become very political in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>National Security<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Another U.S. official present at Starmer\u2019s DOJ meeting was Denise Cheung who would go on to be\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-dc\/criminal-division\">deputy chief<\/a>\u00a0of its National Security Section. Also present was Bruce Schwartz, then the DOJ\u2019s counselor for international affairs, who\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/58011083197aea95712e1bf4\/t\/5dcf08fd2780bb50e0eaf695\/1573849341786\/bcs.bio+2017.pdf\">would go on<\/a>\u00a0to win the department\u2019s award for excellence in furthering the interests of U.S. national security.<\/p>\n<p>Lisa Monaco, another DOJ official at the meeting, had recently been\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/biodefensecommission.org\/teams\/honorable-lisa-monaco\/\">appointed<\/a> assistant attorney general for national security, leading the DOJ\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/nsd\">division<\/a>\u00a0overseeing its intelligence functions.<\/p>\n<p>Monaco, who is now deputy U.S. attorney general, was in London in February\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/readout-deputy-attorney-general-lisa-monaco-s-trip-london\">this year<\/a> to \u201creaffirm and build upon the strong partnership between the United States and Great Britain in countering threats to our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She met with Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Home Office, \u201cto continue the strong working relationship between the Home Office and the Justice Department.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Declassified<\/em> has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/declassifieduk.org\/uk-government-deployed-15-staff-on-secret-operation-to-seize-julian-assange\/\">previously shown<\/a>\u00a0that the U.K. Home Office deployed eight staff on the secret operation to seize Assange from his asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. This was a highly irregular move as Ecuador is a friendly country and asylum is a right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.<\/p>\n<p>The CPS\u2019s lack of disclosure of documents related to Assange may raise suspicions of a cover-up. While Starmer was still in charge, in April 2013, the CPS\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2018\/feb\/11\/sweden-tried-to-drop-assange-extradition-in-2013-cps-emails-show\">rejected<\/a> Assange\u2019s request for the personal data it had on him \u201cbecause of the live matters still pending.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even GCHQ, the U.K.\u2019s largest spy agency, had granted Assange\u2019s request for the personal information it held on him, which\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2013\/may\/20\/julian-assange-gchq-messages-extradition\">revealed<\/a>\u00a0one of its intelligence officers calling the Swedish case a \u201cfit-up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Starmer did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Matt Kennard is chief investigator at <\/strong><em><strong>Declassified UK<\/strong><\/em><strong>. He was a fellow and then director at the Centre for Investigative Journalism in London. Follow him on twitter\u00a0@kennardmatt<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>This article is from\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/declassifieduk.org\">Declassified UK.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2023\/06\/29\/records-destroyed-of-starmer-trips-to-dc-during-assange-case\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the former head of the UK\u2019s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the current leader of Britain\u2019s main opposition party and next potential prime minister, Keir Starmer, made frequent trips to the US to ensure the continued incarceration of Assange. The records of these trips and meetings have all subsequently been destroyed  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":206566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Behind_The_News"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=270574"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270594,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270574\/revisions\/270594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/206566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=270574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=270574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=270574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}