One of the lawyers representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said that allies of President Trump indicated he was interested in discussing a deal with Assange contingent on the release of key information relating to the 2016 election.
During extradition hearings in London on Friday, Assange lawyer Jennifer Robinson said she recalled meeting with Trump associate Charles Johnson and then-GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on Aug. 15, 2017, in the Ecuadorian Embassy to discuss a deal for Assange’s freedom.
“The proposal put forward by Congressman Rohrabacher was that Mr. Assange identify the source for the 2016 election publications in return for some kind of pardon, assurance, or agreement, which would both benefit President Trump politically and prevent U.S. indictment and extradition,” Robinson said.
Assange had been in the embassy in London since August 2012, and Robinson said the pair offered a deal approved by Trump that would drop extradition charges if he was willing to reveal the source behind a bevy of Democratic Party emails that WikiLeaks published ahead of the 2016 election.
“They stated that President Trump was aware of and had approved of them coming to meet with Mr. Assange to discuss a proposal and that they would have an audience with the president to discuss the matter on their return to Washington, D.C.,” Robinson said.
She suggested that the men were hopeful they could disprove that the Russian government was behind the email leak, which is the belief of the U.S. intelligence community.
“Congressman Rohrabacher explained he wanted to resolve the ongoing speculation about Russian involvement in the Democratic National Committee leaks to WikiLeaks, which were published by WikiLeaks and other media organizations in 2016,” Robinson said. “He stated that he regarded the ongoing speculation as damaging to U.S.-Russian relations, that it was reviving Cold War politics, and that it would be in the best interests of the U.S. if the matter could be resolved.”
In a statement released in February, Rohrabacher confirmed that he had met with Assange but denied conversing with Trump on the subject. The White House also denied the connection. “The president barely knows Dana Rohrabacher, other than he’s an ex-congressman. He’s never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject. It is a complete fabrication and a total lie,” then-White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.
