Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has been a busy man these days. While working with President Trump on a landmark executive order that Paul called “the biggest free-market reform of health care in a generation,” he also met with Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) last week to discuss the prospects of pardoning Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange.

“Rand Paul says the president calls him every now and then. I wanted to make sure that when [Trump] calls him that [Paul] knew enough about the Julian Assange offer that I found something of value for the president to look at,” Rohrabacher said to Daily Caller.

Paul is one of the most dogged proponents of privacy rights in the Senate. Rohrabacher, who has served as a Trump surrogate on many occasions, is pushing a deal to the Trump administration to pardon Assange, but the deal has been reportedly blocked by top White House aides. Rohrabacher hopes that Trump will get the message through Paul, who has emerged as a trusted confidant of the President.

Rohrabacher is enthusiastic that Paul is “very open to the idea of mentioning it to the president next time the president called him.”



Paul met with Rohrabacher alongside several of his staffers as well as Rohrabacher’s top aide Paul Behrends and right-wing media figure Charles C. Johnson last Thursday. Paul’s office has yet to address the meeting publicly. Assange took to Twitter to deride misleading coverage regarding his role in any such deals.

“Disgraceful reporting. WikiLeaks never has and never will reveal a source. Offers have been made to me–not the other way around. I do not speak to the public through third parties,” Assange said.

Assange’s words make it clear that there is a long way to go before any sort of deal can be finalized, but Paul’s interest in the topic will likely get Trump’s ear. If Trump is as receptive to Paul’s pitch as he was on healthcare, Assange may be a free man in the not-too-distant future.