If he wins the race for the White House, former President Donald Trump said he will consider pardoning WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Trump made his comments during an interview on the podcast "Time IRL," just before he spoke to the libertarian convention Saturday. He was asked if he would pardon Assange.
"We're going to give it very serious consideration, and we're going to have a couple of other things to say in the speech that I think you're going to love," Trump said in a reply giving no indication whether he would indeed pardon Assange, the Washington Examiner reported.
Assange was given permission May 20 to appeal against extradition to the United States after arguing at London's High Court that he might not be able to rely on his right to free speech in a U.S. court.
The Australian-born Assange, 52, is wanted in the U.S. on 18 charges, nearly all under the Espionage Act, relating to WikiLeaks' mass release of secret U.S. documents — the largest security breaches of their kind in U.S. military history.
The High Court had in March granted him provisional permission to appeal on grounds that he might be discriminated against as a foreign national, but invited the U.S. to submit assurances.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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