
Trump offered to pardon Assange if he denied Russia helped leak Democrats emails - DyslexicAtheist
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-assange/trump-offered-to-pardon-assange-if-he-denied-russia-helped-leak-democrats-emails-lawyer-idUSKBN20D2A2
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afiori
Assange always claimed that the sources behind the leak were not Russian, by
this logic he would have been pardoned years ago.

As far as I understand the deal is actually about revealing the identity of
the source so that it can be confirmed whether it is or it isn't Russian.
Pretty much a standard deal about giving up names.

~~~
BoiledCabbage
There is a pretty clear distinction between "the person he got it from is of
Russian nationality", and the DNC server was hacked and data was taken on
behalf of Russia.

~~~
afiori
But that is not something Assange has necessarily any knowledge about.

The deal was about revealing wikileak's source, so that connection to Russia
could be confirmed or disproved.

As far as I undertand the only evidence pointing to Russia was that Russian
IPs were used in the attack, which is an incredibly weak evidence.

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busterarm
This is such non news. The person who made the statement issued a clarifying
denial explaining that he never spoke to the President. It's even in the
article.

~~~
nsdfg
In September 2017, Rohrabacher appeared on camera and said that he took part
in a "confidential interaction" with the White House in order to secure
Assange a deal.

[https://lawandcrime.com/awkward/interview-from-3-years-
ago-a...](https://lawandcrime.com/awkward/interview-from-3-years-ago-appears-
to-corroborate-assange-lawyers-claims-of-trump-pardon-dangling/)

~~~
afiori
On the other hand you have this

> Assange, said Rohrabacher, “emphatically stated that the Russians were not
> involved in the hacking or disclosure of those emails.” Rohrabacher, who
> chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and
> Emerging Threats, is the only U.S. congressman to have visited the
> controversial figure.

[https://web.archive.org/web/20170817205448/https://rohrabach...](https://web.archive.org/web/20170817205448/https://rohrabacher.house.gov/media-
center/press-releases/rohrabacher-assange-says-russia-not-behind-dnc-email-
leak)

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lagilogi
When was he convicted?

~~~
bhickey
A pardon doesn't require a conviction. Nixon was pardoned for all federal
crimes he committed during his presidency.

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Jonahgay
[https://youtu.be/PezvKetZ34k](https://youtu.be/PezvKetZ34k) Tim pool
disagrees

~~~
astronautjones
i remember watching his dispatches from the middle east and ferguson 6-7 years
ago. as raw and unprofessional as they were, there was something endearing
watching some random guy go out there with a camera and broadcast from
dangerous places.

just took a look at his twitter, very disappointing to see him become a right-
wing concern troll.

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aurizon
This alone is enough to deny the extradition...

~~~
Fjolsvith
If it were true.

~~~
aurizon
Yes, did it happen? I wonder what Assange can do to validate his assertions?
Can his network access recent coms? or was this so sensitive it was carried by
person and never existed in electronic records form? In that case, the
courier's pathway can be accessed to buttress the accusation, if not confirm
it...

