Security News > 2020 > February > Assange lawyer: Trump offered WikiLeaker a pardon in exchange for denying Russia hacked Democrats' email

Julian Assange was offered a pardon by the White House only if he publicly said Russia did not hack the Democratic National Committee, according to the WikiLeaks supremo's lawyer.

Assange appeared in the central London court via video link from prison.

According to multiple reports quoting Assange's lawyers, the super-leaker's legal team was prepared to show evidence and testimony that former Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher visited Assange back in 2017 at the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital, and made the offer: deny Russia was involved in obtaining the emails from DNC servers, and the Trump administration would provide a "Pardon or some other way out" of criminal charges in America.

These latest Assange claims, if true, would severely undercut that position, and show that Trump and his allies were still trying to act on Russia's behalf and cover up the actions of Putin's cyber-soldiers in the aftermath of the election.

If extradited to the States, Assange faces 18 charges that could see him spend the rest of his life behind bars.

News URL

https://go.theregister.co.uk/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/19/assange_russia_trump_pardon/