Assange claims pardon was proffered

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's lawyer says President Trump offered him a pardon, if he agreed to say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic Party emails in 2016. Assange is fighting extradition to the US on spy charges.

By

National News

February 20, 2020 - 9:32 AM

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van in London on May 1, 2019. Photo by (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images)

LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to claim during an extradition hearing that the Trump administration offered him a pardon if he agreed to say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, a lawyer for Assange said Wednesday.

Assange is being held at a British prison while fighting extradition to the United States on spying charges. His full court hearing is due to begin next week.

At a preliminary hearing held Wednesday in London, lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said that now-former Republican congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, visited Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in August 2017.

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