Trump Ally Offered Assange Pardon To 'Resolve' Kremlin Link To Dem Hacks: Attorney
An attorney for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has revealed in a London courtroom that her client was offered a presidential pardon by allies of President Donald Trump — as long as he could somehow “resolve” Kremlin links to the hacking of Democratic Party emails during the 2016 presidential campaign.
In a convoluted response, a prosecutor for the Trump administration said in court that he would not contest that the offer was made, only the truth of what was said, NBC News and other media outlets reported.
U.S. intelligence officials have determined that the Kremlin was behind the hacking of emails of the Democratic National Committee and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that were published in WikiLeaks in 2016. The leaks shortly before the election were damaging to the Clinton campaign and were part of Russia’s strategy to sway the election toward Trump, American officials concluded.
The deal offered to Assange was revealed Friday as part of an extradition hearing to send him to the U.S. He’s facing up to 175 years in prison on American espionage charges over WikiLeaks’ release of confidential diplomatic cables in 2010 and 2011.
Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said in a statement that she witnessed then-Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and Trump associate Charles Johnson make the pardon offer during an August 2017 meeting at London’s Ecuadorian Embassy, where Assange was staying to evade arrest at the time.
Rohrabacher and Johnson said Trump “was aware of and had approved” the meeting with Assange to offer what they described as “win-win” proposal, according to Robinson’s statement.
“Rohrabacher explained that he wanted to resolve the ongoing speculation about Russian involvement in the Democratic National Committee leaks to WikiLeaks,” according to Robinson. The specific source of DNC emails “would be of interest, value and assistance to President Trump,” Robinson and Assange were told.
Rohrabacher,...
