Assange’s lawyer Jennifer
Robinson said in a document before a London court that Trump relayed the offer
through former US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, the UK’s Press Association news
agency reported.
The White House quickly
issued a denial that Trump had dangled a pardon in exchange for help in the
Russia controversy, which has cast a shadow over his first term in office.
“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,” Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
“This is probably another
never-ending hoax and total lie” by the Democratic Party, she said, a day after
Trump controversially pardoned or issued other forms of clemency to 11 people
including a former governor jailed for corruption, and other high-profile
white-collar criminals.
The revelation came at a
case management hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court before Monday’s
formal start of Washington’s extradition request for him to face espionage
charges.
If found guilty in the
United States he could be jailed for 175 years.
Assange’s defence cited a
statement from Robinson in which she said that Rohrabacher had been to see
Assange and said “on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon
or some other way out, if Mr Assange… said Russia had nothing to do with the
DNC leaks”.
District Judge Vanessa
Baraitser said the evidence was admissable.
Robinson did not respond to
emailed and telephone requests from AFP for comment.
US intelligence agencies
have concluded Russia hacked into the computer servers of the Democratic
National Committee (DNC) during Trump’s campaign against Democratic rival
Hillary Clinton.
WikiLeaks later published
the emails, which proved politically damaging to Clinton, before the November
2016 vote.
Australian national
Assange, 48, is facing 18 counts in the US — 17 of them under the Espionage
Act.
None of them is related to
the DNC hack and instead concern WikiLeaks’s publication of diplomatic and
defence cables about US campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Trump has played down
Russia’s involvement in the DNC leak, including when he appeared to side with
Russian President Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence agency’s assessment
of what happened.
“I have great confidence in
my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely
strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said during a joint press
appearance with Putin during their July 2018 summit in Helsinki.
The extradition hearing is
set to start at Woolwich Crown Court, which is next to the high-security
Belmarsh prison where he is being held.
The hearing is expected to
last all week, before being adjourned for three months, to resume on May 18.
MORE FROM AROUND THE
WEBMgid
WikiLeaks’ Assange: lawyer
tells court Trump offers quid pro quo pardon
US President Donald Trump
has thrown himself into another quid pro quo mess, after he promised to pardon
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange if he denied Russia leaked emails of his 2016
election rival’s campaign.
Assange’s lawyer Jennifer
Robinson said in a document before a London court that Trump relayed the offer
through former US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, the UK’s Press Association news
agency reported.
The White House quickly
issued a denial that Trump had dangled a pardon in exchange for help in the
Russia controversy, which has cast a shadow over his first term in office.
“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,” Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
“This is probably another
never-ending hoax and total lie” by the Democratic Party, she said, a day after
Trump controversially pardoned or issued other forms of clemency to 11 people
including a former governor jailed for corruption, and other high-profile
white-collar criminals.
The revelation came at a
case management hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court before Monday’s
formal start of Washington’s extradition request for him to face espionage
charges.
If found guilty in the
United States, he could be jailed for 175 years.
Assange’s defence cited a
statement from Robinson in which she said that Rohrabacher had been to see
Assange and said “on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon
or some other way out, if Mr Assange… said Russia had nothing to do with the
DNC leaks”.
District Judge Vanessa
Baraitser said the evidence was admissable.
Robinson did not respond to
emailed and telephone requests from AFP for comment.
US intelligence agencies
have concluded Russia hacked into the computer servers of the Democratic
National Committee (DNC) during Trump’s campaign against Democratic rival
Hillary Clinton.
WikiLeaks later published
the emails, which proved politically damaging to Clinton, before the November
2016 vote.
Australian national
Assange, 48, is facing 18 counts in the US — 17 of them under the Espionage
Act.
None of them is related to
the DNC hack and instead concern WikiLeaks’s publication of diplomatic and
defence cables about US campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Trump has played down
Russia’s involvement in the DNC leak, including when he appeared to side with
Russian President Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence agency’s assessment
of what happened.
“I have great confidence in
my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely
strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said during a joint press
appearance with Putin during their July 2018 summit in Helsinki.
The extradition hearing is
set to start at Woolwich Crown Court, which is next to the high-security
Belmarsh prison where he is being held.
The hearing is expected to
last all week, before being adjourned for three months, to resume on May 18.
Assange appeared at the
administrative hearing via videolink, wearing dark tracksuit bottoms and a
brown jumper over a white shirt.
He spoke only to confirm
his name and date of birth. He sat and held a pile of papers throughout the
hearing.
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