Brexiteer Nigel Farage is alleged to have slipped a USB stick containing data to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a secret trip to the Ecuadorian embassy.

The former UKIP leader is said to have met Mr Assange, who has been holed up at the London address for more than five years, on several occasions.

The claims were made by Fusion GPS boss Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of the investigative firm behind the controversial "Trump dossier" which was released by former British spy Christopher Steele.

Image: Mr Farage took to the stage with Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Mississippi in 2016

The unsubstantiated dossier was put together during the election campaign and was partially funded by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democrats. It was also given to the FBI.

It claimed there was collusion between Mr Trump's presidential campaign and Russia before he entered the White House, and that the Russians have information that could be used to blackmail the President - claims he fiercely denies.


However, during his appearance before the committee in November, Mr Simpson said his interest in the Trump campaign's links to UKIP and WikiLeaks were separate from ex-MI6 inteligence officer Mr Steele's investigations.

According to a transcript of Mr Simpson's testimony released by the House Intelligence Committee, he claimed WikiLeaks was part of a "somewhat unacknowledged relationship" between the Trump team and the "UKIP people".

Image: Mr Assange has been living at the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012

He said that Mr Farage became "someone that we were very interested in" after the EU referendum vote in June 2016.

"I still think it's very interesting," he said.

"And so I have formed my own opinions... that there was a somewhat unacknowledged relationship between the Trump people and the UKIP people and that the path to WikiLeaks ran through that. And I still think that today."

Mr Simpson said while there had been reports of one visit Mr Farage made to the Ecuadorian embassy - where Mr Assange has been living since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden - he believed the pair had met more often than is widely known.

"I've been told and have not confirmed that Nigel Farage had additional trips to the Ecuadoran embassy than the one that's been in the papers and that he provided data to Julian Assange," he said.

Asked what kind of data, he replied: "A thumb drive."

Image: Mr Farage was among the first visitors to Trump Tower after the President was elected

Mr Farage was pictured leaving the Ecuadorian embassy on March 9 last year, but at the time refused to say whether he had met with Mr Assange.

WikiLeaks has been accused by Mrs Clinton of acting as a "fully owned subsidiary of Russian intelligence" after it published damaging emails, allegedly stolen by Russian operatives, during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

In June last year, Mr Farage dismissed a report that he was a "person of interest" in the FBI's investigation into possible collusion between Mr Trump's presidential campaign and Russia.

He campaigned openly for the billionaire businessman and US reality TV star, and was one of the first people to meet him in Trump Tower after his election victory.

He also hired the top floor of an exclusive five-star hotel in Washington DC to host a party celebrating Mr Trump's inauguration.

Mr Trump also suggested Mr Farage should be appointed the UK's ambassador to the US.

Mr Farage issued a one-line statement responding to the claims. He said: "This is conspiratorial nonsense."