Former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., on Thursday confirmed in an interview with Yahoo! News that he did tell WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that he'd get him a presidential pardon if he provided proof that Russia did not leak Democratic National Committee emails in 2016.
"I spoke to Julian Assange and told him if he would provide evidence about who gave WikiLeaks the emails I would petition the president to give him a pardon," Rohrabacher said. "He knew I could get to the president."
The former congressman said that then-White House chief of staff John Kelly was "courteous" but noncommittal to the idea. "He knew this had to be handled with care," Rohrabacher said, adding that the media could spin the offer in a "harmful" way to President Donald Trump. He said that he did not hear from Kelly about the idea again, and that he did not directly discuss it with Trump himself.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham dismissed the claim as a "complete fabrication," saying that Trump "barely knows Dana Rohrabacher" and has "never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject."
Rohrabacher lost his reelection bid in 2018 and has since become a cannabis industry consultant.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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