TIME Magazine reporter Michael Grunwald 'can't wait' to justify drone strike on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange TIME Magazine senior national correspondent Michael Grunwald caused a Twitter war after saying he couldn't wait for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be killed in a drone strike. Picture: Twitter/Michael Grunwald Source: Twitter A TIME Magazine reporter sparked a Twitter firestorm yesterday when he controversially stated he couldn't wait for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be killed in a drone strike. Michael Grunwald wrote from his Twitter account: "I can't wait to write a defense of the drone strike that takes out Julian Assange." The senior national correspondent was pressured to delete the offending tweet after a bewildered follower argued it would encourage Assange supporters. Grunwald has written extensively about his support for the United States strategy of killing terrorists using unmanned military drones. His comment, widely met with hostility online, was swiftly condemned by Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian who broke the story of NSA whistle-blower Edward Norton. "Things like this make you not just understand, but celebrate, the failings of large media outlets - TIME edition," Greenwald tweeted. Grunwald's employer has distanced itself from the tweet: "Michael Grunwald posted an offensive tweet from his personal Twitter account that is in no way representative of TIME's views," a TIME spokesperson said. He regrets having tweeted it, and he removed it from his feed. Greenwald has since apologised on Twitter for his comment: "It was a dumb tweet. I'm sorry. I deserve the backlash. Maybe not the anti-Semitic stuff but otherwise I asked for it.  Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than a year to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault. Last month he announced the candidates who will stand for his WikiLeaks Party at the federal election including academics, journalists and human rights activists.