A TIME magazine reporter set off a Twitter  spat on Saturday when he controversially suggested that WikkiLeaks founder  Julian Assange be killed in a drone strike.

Michael Grunwald was pressured into deleting  the offending tweet after it was greeeted with hostility online – particularly  by Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian – who broke the story of NSA whistle-blower  Edward Norton.

Indeed, TIME magazine distanced themselves  from the tweet saying, ‘Michael Grunwald posted an offensive tweet from his  personal Twitter account that is no way representative of TME’s  views’.

Grunwald has written extensively about his  support for the United States strategy of killing terrorists using unmanned  military drones.

Writing on Twitter on Friday, Grunwald said  he ‘can’t wait to write a defense of the drone strike that takes out’ Assange,  who is an Australian citizen.

Julian Assange is currently in hiding at the  Ecuadorian embassy in London – as he attempts to ward off his own extradition to  Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual  assault.

 tweet posted by Blake Hounshell shows the  deleted one that Michael Grunwald posted on Friday

Target: Michael Grunwald called for Julian Assange to be  targeted in a drone strike and was attacked by Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian  journalist who broke the story of NSA whistle-blower Edwards Snowden

Outraged: Others were not so impressed with Grunwalds  opinion on drone strikes taking out Julian Assange

Taking to Twitter to express his anger,  Greenwald said that ‘Thing like this make you not just understand, but  celebrate, the failings of large media outlets.’

Journalist Quinn Norton said that despite  Assange’s reputation, he has never demanded anyone’s murder or  assassination.

However, the furore continued with a William  Patrick Wend incredulously asking Grunwald, ‘Yeah, so you don’t have to be an  ‘Assange supporter’ to find calling for extra judicial murder to be  sickening.’

Admission: Eventually, Grunwald said that his tweet was  wrong and that it was right he apologized

Grunwald then revealed that he was receiving  anti-Semitic abuse to his Twitter account but ultimately admitted that his tweet  was ‘dumb’ and that he deserved the ‘backlash’.

Assange announced last month that he was  attempting to stand as a candidate for the senate in Australia for the WikiLeaks  Party.

‘Wikileaks Party is a party of  accountability, it’s not a party of government,’ he said.

‘It’s a party to put into the Senate, to make  sure whoever is put into the government does their job. It’s an insurance  against the election.’

In March, Grunwald said he was perplexed as  to why people had become upset at the trageted killing of U.S. citizen Anwar  al-Awlaki, by a drone strike because of his association with al  Qaeda.

Related articles

• Meet the Journalist Who ‘Can’t Wait’ to Defend a Drone Strike on Assange (theatlanticwire.com)
• Assassination TIME: Sr. Journalist ‘Can’t Wait’ To Justify Drone Strike That Will Kill Assange (libertycrier.com)
• Time’s Michael Grunwald, Who Wants the Government To “Tread on Me,” Also Wants Julian Assange Droned (reason.com)