(Newswire.net— September 19, 2020) — U.S. President Donald Trump has offered a pardon to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange if he discloses those who are responsible for the hacking intrusion into the e-mail of the National Committee of the Democratic Party before the 2016 presidential election, a court in London was told on Friday.
Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson said that she attended the meeting at which Republican representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Charles Johnson, an associate close to Trump’s campaign, made that offer back in 2017.
Robinson said Assange was told that Trump had approved the meeting and that Rorahacher would later meet with the president to discuss a further action on the proposed deal.
According to Robinson, the agreement was presented to Assange as a solution where everyone gets something and that will enable him to continue with his life, and that in return, Trump will also have political benefits.
The White House spokesman, however, said that nothing was offered to Assange. “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. This is probably another never-ending hoax and total lie from the DNC [Democratic National Committee],” the Guardian cites the White House spokesman.
During the 2016 election campaign, WikiLeaks published a series of scandalous emails from the National Committee of the Democratic Party that harmed then-candidate Hillary Clinton.
The American intelligence services have expressed the belief that Russia, which wanted to influence the American presidential elections, is responsible for the electronic intrusion that leaked the emails.
“The proposal made by Congressman Rohrabacher was for Assange to identify the source in exchange for some kind of pardon,” Robinson said.
Russia has denied any involvement in the US election since the beginning of the accusations, and Trump also denies that he was in collusion with Moscow.
An investigation led by Special Investigator Robert Mueller did not establish that any member of Trump’s campaign was secretly cooperating with Russia.