A GOP lawmaker's suggestion that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could be pardoned by President Trump is being eyed warily by people in the intelligence community.

While a pardon for Assange seems unlikely, Trump has offered praise for WikiLeaks and Assange's own efforts to question U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia sought to influence last year's presidential election.

As such, the idea is being taken seriously in intelligence quarters.

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“It would send a terrible message to the intelligence community,” said Robert Deitz, a former senior counselor to the director of the CIA and general counsel at the National Security Agency.

Deitz is currently a professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.



“What moral are people supposed to draw from that? Why on Earth would you believe Julian Assange before the intelligence community?”





Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who has come under scrutiny for his own ties to Russia, is behind the Assange pardon push.

The deal Rohrabacher is trying to cut: pardon Assange in exchange for information he claims proves Russia did not collude with the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential race.

The California Republican became the first U.S. lawmaker to meet with Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London early last month, where Assange has been holed up for years in an attempt to avoid arrest. Rohrabacher claims Assange offered him "firsthand" evidence during the meeting that would prove there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the race.

Earlier this week, Rohrabacher claimed a meeting is in the works between himself and the president to discuss Assange's information and a potential pardon.