LONDON – US president Donald Trump promised to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange if he denied Russia leaked emails of his 2016 election rival’s campaign, a London court was told on Wednesday.
Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said in a document Trump relayed the offer through former US congressman Dana Rohrabacher, the UK’s domestic Press Association news agency reported.
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 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 admissible. 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 during Trump’s campaign against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. – Nampa-AFP
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