Trump Offered To Pardon Wikileaks Founder If He Denied Russia Link To Hillary Emails, Alleges Lawyer

President Donald Trump offered to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 2017 if he denied Russian involvement in the email leaks that hurt rival candidate Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, Assange's lawyers have claimed.

What Happened

The lawyers were arguing the case against Assange's extradition to the United States, where he faces charges of violating espionage laws, when they said that former Republican House member Dana Rohrabacher paid a visit to the whistleblower in August 2017 on behalf of Trump, The Guardian reported Wednesday.

"[On] instructions from the president, [Rohrabacher] was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr. Assange … said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC [Democratic National Committee] leaks," a lawyer told the court, according to the Guardian.

White House, Rohrabacher Deny

Both the White House and Rohrabacher denied the allegations in separate statements.

"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," White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said. "It is a complete fabrication and a total lie."

Rohrabacher, agreeing that he offered a way out to Assange, said he was acting in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the president.

"[I] was not directed by Trump or anyone else connected with him to meet with Julian Assange," the former congressman said. "I was on my own fact finding mission at personal expense to find out information I thought was important to our country."

Rohrabacher said that he told Assange that he would call on President Trump to pardon him if he shared "information and evidence about who actually gave him the DNC emails."

The Wall Street Journal reported in September 2017 that Rohrabacher had approached the White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and offered to broker a "deal" that would see Assange sharing information and get a pardon or "something like that" in return.

According to the Journal, the president wasn't made aware of the offer at the time.

Photo Credit: Public domain photo via Wikimedia.