U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London Wednesday and said he plans to report his findings directly to President Donald Trump, The Daily Caller reported.
Conservative journalist Charles Johnson told The Daily Caller he brokered the meeting between the two because Assange was interested in striking a deal with U.S. officials so he can stop living in asylum at the embassy.
Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy since August 2012 after he was accused of sexual assault in Sweden. The Los Angeles Times reported that while that investigation was dropped this year, he could still be arrested if he leaves.
In January, the CIA identified Russian officials who fed material hacked from the Democratic National Committee and party leaders to WikiLeaks at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin through third parties, Reuters reported.
WikiLeaks daily leaked emails from Democratic National Committee through the end of November's presidential election when Trump defeated Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Rohrabacher said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times, that Assange "emphatically stated that the Russians were not involved" in the theft of Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The Daily Caller said Rohrabacher's meeting with Assange lasted three hours. Johnson said the legislator will act as an envoy to bring back "a deal" to the White House, the Daily Caller said. Rohrabacher is reportedly the first Congressman to meet with Assange.
CNN reported in April that authorities were preparing charges against Assange, who first gained publicity by posting thousands of files stolen by the former U.S. Army intelligence analyst now known as Chelsea Manning.