Eli Lake, Columnist

Why Would Trump Offer a Pardon to Julian Assange?

Assange had already said that Russia was not responsible for the hacked emails about the 2016 election.

February 20, 2020 at 12:30 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Maybe he needs better lawyers.
Photographer: TOLGA AKMEN/AFP

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As Julian Assange faces extradition to the U.S. on charges of endangering national security by conspiring to obtain and disclose classified information, his lawyer is offering a bizarre defense.

Assange’s U.S. prosecution, claims his lawyer, is entirely political. In 2017, says Edward Fitzgerald, an emissary of President Donald Trump offered Assange a pardon “or some other way out if Mr. Assange played ball and said the Russians had nothing to do with” information about the Democratic Party published by Wikileaks in 2016.