The case is federal, it's not confined in jurisdiction. But the plea deal is being entered there because of "defendant’s opposition to traveling to the continental United States to enter his guilty plea and the proximity of this federal U.S. District Court to the defendant’s country of citizenship, Australia, to which we expect he will return at the conclusion of the proceeding"
Interesting. So he'll have to physically be present in the CNMI? Presumably he'll fly London-Tokyo-Saipan, since this is just about the only way to get there without transiting the US (including Hawaii).
Yes, he'll be in court in Saipan on Wednesday morning to enter the plea. Apparently he's already left London, according to WikiLeaks twitter account and other reports. Don't think he's flying coach though : )
Ah, it's a private jet (Bombardier Global 6000), not commercial aviation. Then again, after all he's been through, it would hardly be fair to subject Assange to the horrors of cattle class on United.
> proximity of this federal U.S. District Court to the defendant’s country of citizenship, Australia
This is a little disingenuous, and made me chuckle. It's faster and cheaper to get to Australia from the US mainland than it is from Saipan. Yes, it's physically closer as stated, but does not confer the claimed benefits.
That was my thought too. It's outside the mainland customs zone though which is full of fascist angry CBP agents at the ports of entry. Maybe CNMI immigration is easier? It's also faster/easier to escape maybe, although USVI is also outside mainland customs and easy to slip out of.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nmid.64...