Wikileaks founder Julian Assange marked the two-year anniversary of his confinement in Ecuador’s embassy in London on Thurdsay with a conference call with journalists in which he remained as defiant and unapologetic as ever.

During the call with journalists, Assange  demanded that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder drop the ongoing probe into WikiLeaks; spoke of ‘new information’ that he hopes might cause Sweden to drop the sexual misconduct allegations against him; hinted at the release of a new batch of classified documents pertaining to “international negotiations” of fifty countries; and lastly, offered his tip to win the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

The WikiLeaks founder, who faces sexual misconduct allegations in Sweden, claims British authorities refuse to grant his asylum request to Ecuador. As a result, he remains holed up in the embassy with police monitoring the building around the clock. If he were to leave the premises, Assange fears he would be arrested and extradited to the United States, where the Department of Justice has mounted a four-year investigation into WikiLeaks’ work.

Here are excerpts from Assange’s comments.

On U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and his investigation into WikiLeaks:

“The ongoing existence of that investigation produces a chilling effect not just in relation to internet-based publishers but to all publishers because all publishers will shortly be internet-based publishers only,

“It is against the stated principles of the United States and the values supported by its people to have a four-year pre-law investigation against a publisher. It is not correct for Eric Holder and the DOJ to use weasel words stating that they will not prosecute a reporter for reporting.

“The DOJ’s weasel words in our analysis are designed to split off national security reporters from those reporters who simply report the contents of a press conference. National security reporters are required to have intimate interactions in order to assess and clarify and investigate the nature of the material that they are dealing with. So I call on Eric Holder today to immediately drop the ongoing national security investigation against WikiLeaks or resign.”

On the ‘new information’ pertaining to his sexual misconduct case in Sweden:

“I hope that, yes, it will remove the arrest warrant which has technically kept this matter going now for nearly four years, but it won’t permit me to leave the embassy because we still have the threat of extradition.

“However, the removal of the Swedish matter will prevent what has been an extremely distracting political attack, which has been to try and draw attention away from what is the largest ever criminal investigation by the Department of Justice into a publisher, and into me, personally,

“I think politically it will enable a more direct confrontation with the U.S. Department of Justice. I imagine there would be negotiations between the government of Ecuador and the government of the U.K.”

On WikiLeaks continued relevance today:

“Our role this year has expanded in relation to the ongoing protection of Edward Snowden, which I believe shows us working at our best.

“I think the best answer to that question was given by [Joseph Heller,} the author of Catch-22, when it was put to him that he hadn’t eclipsed his novel. And the response was, ‘Neither has anyone else.'”

On the release of new classified documents about “international negotiations”:

“I can tell you they pertain to 50 countries, and we’re releasing it tomorrow. In total, more than 67% of global trade is encaptured by those negotiations. I can’t reveal any more details, but the United States, of course, and all of the countries in Europe are included.”

[Note: The documents that WikiLeaks later released detail a secret agreement  that the organization claims would ease international trade restrictions,  strengthen the competitive position of some large companies at the expense of others and jeopardize consumer privacy.]

On his ongoing confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy:

“The greatest concern for me is the intelligence gathering that the British police [are] doing on my visitors to the embassy, aggressively demanding their names and identity details as they come and go.

“The situation does create certain difficulties. On the other hand, unlike other national security reporters, I am in an effective jurisdiction where I cannot be subpoenaed; there cannot be any police knocks in the night or in the day…”

On the FIFA World Cup in Brazil:

“I have been watching the World Cup, although the reception in this building is quite difficult. But perhaps it makes it a bit harder for the bugs (listening devices) to transmit through the walls as well.

“Of course Ecuador undoubtedly deserves to win the World Cup — it also has a pretty decent team. But I think there’s such prestige riding on the issue for Brazil that they are the most likely victors.”

photo credits: WFMU via photopin cc; chrisjohnbeckett via photopin cc; acidpolly via photopin cc