US President Donald Trump would have pardoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange if he denied that Russia was involved in leaking emails from the Democratic Party, including those from his then political opponent Hillary Clinton. An Assange lawyer reported that to the British court in Westminster on Wednesday, a week before the extradition process against Assange begins there.
According to Assange’s lawyers, Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher visited Assange in August 2017 when he was still staying at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
There he would, on the instructions of President Trump, have offered Assange grace if he would deny that Russia had anything to do with leaking emails from the Democratic Party.
The British court considers the evidence for the allegation admissible and will include it in the extradition process.
According to a White House spokesperson, Trump and Rohrabacher do not know each other. “They have never spoken to each other about this or any other subject,” said Trumps spokesperson. Yet Rohrabacher did visit the White House in April 2017, after Rohrabacher had defended the president on TV.
Rohrabacher called White House staff chief
The White House does confirm that Rohrabacher had called the then Chief of Staff John Kelly in September 2017 to discuss the Assange issue. However, that would not have been communicated to Trump.
Rohrabacher himself did not respond to the issue. The leaked emails in 2016, including those from Hilary Clinton, caused a lot of criticism of the Democrats and their presidential candidate. Russian hackers are said to have forwarded the emails to WikiLeaks, who then published the emails on their website.
Assange is currently detained in the British prison for violating the terms of his bail. The lawsuit over his extradition to the United States begins on February 25. The Americans suspect him of conspiracy and computer peace.
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