U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher says White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is preventing him from getting information to President Donald Trump.
The California Republican told Business Insider that Kelly and "a coalition of people in the White House" are keeping him from talking to the president about information that could clear WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the Russian government in meddling in the U.S. presidential election.
Rohrabacher does not accept findings in January from the director of national intelligence the Russians attempted to influence November's election.
In a September phone call with Kelly, Rohrabacher pressed the case for a pardon of Assange, who has holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012, fighting extradition to Sweden on rape charges.
Assange says the rape charges are false, but offered in January to be extradited to the United States. There are no formal charges against him in this country, even though he has been criticized for publishing documents leaked on the Democratic National Convention just weeks ahead of the vote.
Assange insists he did not get the information from Russian hackers.
Rohrabacher told Business Insider he still is unable to speak directly with Trump, but "there are others involved who are talking to Trump" about Assange's situation. The congressman said he also is talking indirectly to Assange.
"I have not spoken to [Assange] directly, but we're going through a period of time where a lot's getting done one person removed in a lot of different ways," he said.
"The White House staff and other top people in the administration are trying to protect the president from himself," the congressman said. "That's what they think and in fact they are usurping his authority to make decisions — the important decisions — himself."
The Los Angeles Times noted Democrats hope to oust Rohrabacher in 2018 over his longtime friendly relationship with Russia.
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