Attorneys for Julian Assange told a London court on Wednesday that they will provide evidence that the Trump administration offered to pardon the WikiLeaks founder if he was willing to say that Russia had nothing to do with leaks of Democratic Party emails, according to Bloomberg.
During the preliminary extradition hearing, Assange’s lawyers said that former GOP congressman Dana Rohrahbacher offered the deal in 2017, one year after WikiLeaks published emails which were damaging to then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. At the time, the FBI’s ‘Russiagate’ investigation was in full swing as the agency tried in vein to prove that Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 US election.
At a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald asked the court to allow more witness statements during the extradition hearing that will start next week. The new information includes a witness statement by Jen Robinson, another of Assange’s lawyers, that deals with the alleged offer made by then U.S. Representative. Dana Rohrabacher, he told the court.
FBI’s renewed push in DC pipe bomb case shows how fresh eyes can change a stalled investigation
Marine who was killed in vehicle training accident at California base identified
Police say criminal illegal alien injured 4 officers in Nebraska gas station shootout
NYC mayor-elect tells residents how to resist ICE agents knocking at their door in new video
Oklahoma trooper helps deliver newborn on highway shoulder: ‘The baby is coming!’
Congress unveils $900B defense bill targeting China with tech bans, investment crackdown, US troop pay raise
Trump adds his birthday as free national park day while axing MLK Day and Juneteenth
Obama Proves He’s Stuck in the Past, Offers Desperate Defense of Legacy Media
In Texas cattle country, one rancher welcomes Trump’s focus on decades of thin margins
MTG says she was denied security detail despite 773 death threats
A Detailed Account of the Nightmarish National Guard Shooting: Court Docs
Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony marks 84 years since attack
Under the New ‘Trump Accounts,’ Your Baby Could Qualify for $1K: Here’s What to Know
Hamline University student brags on video that he celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination
Newsom team torched for image posted in response to mocking of gov’s ‘testicle-crushing’ sitting pose
The witness statement will address “Mr. Rohrabacher going to see Mr. Assange, and saying on instructions of the president, offering pardon or some other way out if Mr. Assange played ball and said the Russians had nothing to do with” the leaks, Fitzgerald said. -Bloomberg
Assange spent nearly seven years living in the Ecuadorian embassy in Central London in order to avoid extradition to Sweden, and later the United States.
The White House has denied the claim.
Developing…
Story cited here.
