President Trump said Tuesday that he doesn’t “know anything” about WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, who is reportedly facing a secret criminal case filed by the Trump administration.
“I don’t know anything about him, really,” Trump said on the south lawn of the White House after being asked if Assange should go free and if the Justice Department should drop its case. “I don’t know much about him. I really don’t”
An accidental court filing first reported last week appeared to reveal that Assange faces a sealed criminal case in the U.S., a scenario long feared by the Australian-born transparency activist.
President Trump is asked, “Should Julian Assange go free?”
Trump: “I don’t know anything about him. Really. I don’t know much about him. I really don’t.” pic.twitter.com/3RT12rAaB9— Andrew Blake (@apblake) November 20, 2018
Assange claimed asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy in June 2012 and said a Swedish sex crime investigation was a ploy to extradite him to the U.S. for trial in relation to Chelsea Manning’s 2010 leak of military and diplomatic secrets.
The Obama Justice Department reportedly decided against charging Assange, however, after concluding that such a case could open the door to prosecuting traditional journalists for reporting government secrets.
Trump previously made supportive remarks about Assange’s outlet. He declared, “I love WikiLeaks” during the 2016 election, when the primary source publisher released hacked Democratic emails.
As president, Trump has kept his distance from WikiLeaks and Assange as special counsel Robert Mueller investigates possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia.
For more than a year, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., tried to speak with Trump about a pardon for Assange in exchange for information purportedly disproving the conclusion of U.S. spy agencies that Russia hacked Democrats to help Trump.
Rohrabacher, who had met with Assange, was blocked by White House chief of staff John Kelly. When he was asked directly about Rohrabacher’s attempts to broker a pardon, Trump told reporters in September 2017 he hadn’t heard of the congressman’s attempts.
