Trump offered WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange a pardon if he covered up Russian hacking of Democrats, lawyer tells court

In his statement, Rohrabacher also called on Trump to pardon Assange, whom he called “the true whistleblower of our time.”

Neither CNBC nor NBC News has the full statement made by Assange’s lawyer in court.

The formal extradition hearing for Assange, an Australian national, is due to begin Monday. At Wednesday’s court session, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser reportedly said the evidence about a purported pardon offer is admissible at that hearing.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, when asked about the claim of a pardon offer by Trump, said, “The President barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he’s an ex-congressman.”

“He’s never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject. It is a complete fabrication and a total lie,” Grisham said. “This is probably another never ending hoax and total lie from the DNC.”

Trump in a November 2018 tweet called Rohrabacher “a great Congressman for his district,” who “works hard and is respected by all.”

WikiLeaks, in two tweets after Wednesday’s hearing, seemed to confirm that a presidential pardon had been offered to Assange, but also said that the offer came 10 months “after Julian Assange had already independently stated that Russia was not the source of the DNC publication.”

WikiLeaks also said “the meeting and the offer were made prior to Assange’s indictment.”

Rohrabacher did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the claims made by Assange’s lawyers.

Assange’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Justice Department has said that Russian agents hacked emails from the DNC and from John Podesta, the campaign chairman for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, in 2016.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/19/trump-offered-julian-assange-pardon-for-covering-up-russian-hacking.html