Wikileaks founder Julian Assange claimd during an extradition hearing in London Wednesday that he received an offer of a pardon from President Donald Trump — conveyed by former Orange County congressman Dana Rohrabacher — if Assange would cover up Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.

The allegation, reported Wednesday by The Daily Beast, is backed in part by 2017 news reports in which Rohrabacher claimed he met with White House officials after meeting privately with Assange, to discuss Russia’s hack of the Democratic National Committee. Rohrabacher said at the time that he believed Russia did not hack the DNC — an argument that contradicted the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies — and that Assange could offer evidence to support his belief.

At a preliminary hearing held Wednesday in London, lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said Rohrabacher, a Republican, visited Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in August 2017. Fitzgerald said a statement from another Assange lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, recounted “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 is in court to fight extradition to the United States. He spent about seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy, claiming he faced politically-charged prosecution in the United States. The offer of the pardon, Assange’s attorney’s contend, is proof that his case did have political implications.His full court hearing is due to begin next week.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham denied the allegation Wednesday, saying “it is a complete fabrication and a total lie. This is probably another never ending hoax and total lie from the DNC.” Trump “barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he’s an ex-congressman. He’s never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject,” Grisham said.

Rohrabacher, who represented parts of Orange County in the House for nearly 30 years, said Wednesday that while he did meet with Assange he did not carry any offer of a pardon from Trump.

“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 via Twitter.

“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.”

During his time in congress Rohrabacher consistently expressed pro-Russia views and was sometimes described as Vladimir Putin’s favorite congressman. He lost his re-election bid in 2018 and moved to Maine. Last year, he announced that he’d joined the board of BudTrader.com, which creates ads in the cannabis industry.

U.S. prosecutors have charged the 48-year-old Australian computer hacker Assange with espionage over WikiLeaks’ hacking of hundreds of thousands of confidential government documents. If found guilty, he faces up to 175 years in jail. He argues he was acting as a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection.

Assange was evicted from the Educadorian embassy in April 2019 and was arrested by British police for jumping bail in 2012. In November, Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigation because so much time had elapsed.

There is no quick end in sight to Assange’s long legal saga. The full extradition hearing starting Monday is due to open with a week of legal arguments. It will resume in May, and a ruling is not expected for several months, with the losing side likely to appeal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report