Attorneys for Julian Assange claimed Wednesday that President Donald Trump offered a pardon to the WikiLeaks founder if Assange would say that Russia was not involved in the 2016 hacking of emails from the Democratic National Committee.

According to British media in court, Assange's attorneys said the message of a possible deal was relayed to him by former Republican lawmaker Dana Rohrabacher in 2017, when the California politician traveled to London to meet with Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy.

However, Rohrabacher himself soon disputed their account.

Assange's attorney said the deal was offered to him by Rohrabacher "on instructions from the president."

"Mr. Rohrabacher going to see Mr Assange and saying, 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," Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson said in a statement, according to the Guardian.

The claim was made during a pre-extradition hearing, where lawyers representing Assange have argued he should not be extradited to the United States to face federal charges for an alleged conspiracy. The charges say Assange colluded with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to solicit and publish classified information related to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.



After reports of the claim were published, Rohrabacher released a statement saying he had not been directed by Trump to meet with Assange, but "was on my own searching out information I thought was important to the country when I visited Assange."

"At no time did I offer Julian Assange anything from the President because I had not spoken with the President about this issue at all," Rohrabacher said. "However, when speaking with Julian Assange, I told him that if he could provide me information and evidence about who actually gave him the DNC emails, I would then call on President Trump to pardon him."

Rohrabacher said he did not "offer a deal made by the President, nor did I say I was representing the President."

Once he returned from London, Rohrabacher said he contacted then–chief of staff John Kelly to let him know that Assange would provide information about the DNC hack "in exchange for a pardon," but he said that no one from the White House followed up on his call.

Attorneys for Assange have been making the argument that the criminal case against him in the US is politically motivated and, therefore, he should not be extradited.



Assange's attorneys did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' inquiries.

Representatives at the White House told BuzzFeed News that Trump "barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he's an ex-congressman."

The White House spokesperson said the pardon claim was a "complete fabrication" that was "probably another never-ending hoax and total lie from the DNC."