WASHINGTON ¨C As WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces extradition to the United States 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 U.S. 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.
For those who still believe that Trump¡¯s campaign colluded with Russia¡¯s influence operation in 2016, this looks like damning evidence. It suggests that Trump knew that Wikileaks was laundering emails hacked by Russia¡¯s intelligence services and made them a centerpiece of his campaign anyway ¡ª then tried to enlist Assange in that lie.
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