Trump ally ‘offered to arrange Assange pardon’

Alawyer for Julian Assange told a London court yesterday that she was present when an ally of US President Donald Trump offered to arrange a pardon for the WikiLeaks founder in return for information that would “benefit President Trump politically”.

Australian-born Assange, 49, is fighting to avoid being sent to the US, where he is charged with conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law over the release of confidential cables by WikiLeaks in 2010-2011.

His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said in a witness statement to the court that she observed a meeting at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2017 between Assange and Republican then-US Representative Dana Rohrabacher.

She said Rohrabacher and an assistant offered to arrange a pardon for Assange in return for information about the hacking of Democratic e-mails before the 2016 US presidential election.

“They stated that President

Trump was aware of and had approved of them coming to meet with Assange to discuss a proposal — and that they would have an audience with the president to discuss the matter on their return to Washington DC,” she said.

“The proposal put forward by Congressman Rohrabacher was that Assange identify the source for the 2016 election publications in return for some form of pardon, assurance or agreement, which would both benefit President Trump politically and prevent US

indictment and extradition,” Robinson said.

Assange’s legal team first said at hearings in February that Rohrabacher had conveyed a pardon offer to Assange.

At the time, the White House called the assertion that Trump had tried to reach a deal with Assange “a complete fabrication and a total lie”.

Rohrabacher said he had never spoken with the president about Assange, denied being sent on Trump’s behalf and said he was acting on his own when he offered to ask Trump for a pardon for Assange.