The White House on Wednesday angrily denied a courtroom claim by the lawyer for Julian Assange that the WikiLeaks founder was offered a Donald Trump presidential pardon if he would provide evidence that Russia wasn't behind the 2016 hacking of Democratic emails.

Assange, 48, is on trial in London, and is wanted in the U.S. for allegedly conspiring with Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to expose military secrets between January and May 2010.

He has been indicted on 18 charges – 17 of which fall under the Espionage Act – including conspiracy to receive, obtain and disclose classified diplomatic and military documents.

But Assange's lawyer Edward Fitzgerald, QC, said former Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher told the WikiLeaks founder he would be pardoned if he denied Russian tampering. He said Rohrabacher made the offer on 'instructions of the president' – a claim the White House has previously denied.

White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham condemned the claim.

Julian Assange's (he is pictured in a prison van in January left) lawyer today claimed Donald Trump (right) will offer him a pardon if he says the Russians had nothing to do with his election victory

'The President barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he’s an ex-congressman,' she told the Daily Beast. 'He’s never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject. It is is a complete fabrication and a total lie. This is probably another never ending hoax and total lie from the DNC,' she said.

Rohrabacher described what he termed as a potential 'deal' in an interview with the Wall Street Journal after visiting Assange when he was holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy.

It would involve a presidential pardon or similar action if Assange furnished information that Russia wasn't the source of hacked Democratic emails. 'He would get nothing, obviously, if what he gave us was not proof,' Rohrabacher said at the time.

A Trump administration official confirmed to the paper at the time that Rohrabacher had spoken to then-White House chief of staff John Kelly about the matter, but said Trump didn't know the details of the proposed deal.

Longtime Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) wears a 'Make Surfing Great Again' hat after dropping off his ballot at his polling place on November 6, 2018 in Costa Mesa, California

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher attends the "Death Of A Nation" Premiere at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live on July 31, 2018 in Los Angeles, California

President Donald Trump and Congressman Kevin McCarthy walk to greet supporters after arriving on Air Force One at LAX Airport on February 18, 2020 in Los Angeles, California

Rohrabacher issued a statement where he denied ever talking to Trump about Assange – but where he did not deny talking to Kelly or other officials who might have spoken on Trump's behalf.

'At no time did I talk to President Trump about Julian Assange. Likewise, I was not directed by Trump or anyone else connected with him to meet with Julian Assange. I was on my own fact finding mission at personal expense to find out information I thought was important to our country,' Rohrabacher said.

'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. 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.

'At no time did I offer a deal made by the President, nor did I say I was representing the President. Upon my return, I spoke briefly with Gen. Kelly. I told him that Julian Assange would provide information about the purloined DNC emails in exchange for a pardon. No one followed up with me including Gen. Kelly and that was the last discussion I had on this subject with anyone representing Trump or in his Administration,' he said.

The 48-year-old appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court via video-link from Belmarsh Prison wearing a brown jumper and white shirt with black jeans and trainers. He seemed calm as he rifled through court documents.

The Australian national is being held at the maximum-security prison, also home to terrorists and serial killers, before his four-week extradition hearing begins on February 24.

But the court was told today the case will be split into two parts, the first for one week beginning February 24 and the second for three weeks beginning May 18.

A search Wednesday turned up a single image of Trump and Rohrabacher together, with the former California congressman giving a thumbs up while Trump points to him from a distance in the East Room of the White House.

McCarthy was famously caught on tape joking that then-candidate Trump and Rohrabacher, who was considered the most pro-Moscow lawmaker during his tenure,

The White House responded while Trump was on a West Coast campaign swing. On Tuesday, he appeared with House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California.

'There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,' McCarthy said during a closed GOP leadership meeting, prompting laughs. 'Swear to God.' McCarthy in 2017 after the Washington Post reported on the exchange called it a 'attempt at humor gone wrong.'

Edward Fitzgerald, QC, representing Assange, said a witness statement would refer to 'Mr Rohrabacher going to see Mr Assange and saying on instructions of the President offering pardon or some other way out if Mr Assange said the Russians had nothing to do with the DNC leaks.'

He also revealed he would rely on Manning's case to argue for Assange to stay in the UK.

Manning is a former US soldier who was court martialed after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly 750,000 military and diplomatic documents.

She was imprisoned from 2010 until 2017 when her sentence was commuted, but Manning is currently in jail for her continued refusal to testify before a grand jury against Assange.

'Chelsea Manning's plea and mitigation to the military commission has key passages which we will be relying on so we would seek to extract that and key press reports so the court has key materials.'

Mr Fitzgerald said: 'What we say is it is an abuse to seek extradition for a political offence so that is really part of the abuse argument.'

The 48-year-old appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court (protestors pictured outside) today via video-link from Belmarsh Prison

The public gallery was packed to capacity with supporters as the court heard Assange's four-week extradition hearing will start next week.

Assange went into hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden for sexual offence allegations which he has always denied.

He was jailed for 50 weeks last April after breaching his bail conditions when the asylum period he was given expired.

In November Swedish authorities dropped the rape allegations made against him in 2010.

Assange has been in custody since he was dramatically removed from Ecuador's embassy building in central London last April.

He will next appear at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court on February 24.