The London court where the proceedings are taking place today heard statements from court barrister Edward Fitzgerald who explained that Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, intended to submit documents alleging that former GOP Congressman Dana Rohrabacher personally visited Assange. Per a report from the Guardian, Fitzgerald said that “on instructions from the president, he [Rohrobacher] was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr. Assange … said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC leaks.” Per a report from the Washington Post, Rohrobacher visited Assange while he was holed-up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2017. A London-based court reporter named James Doleman originally broke the news on Twitter:
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) February 19, 2020 Multiple outlets have now confirmed that District Judge Vanessa Baraitser has agreed to allow the allegations to be officially entered as evidence in the trial as early as next week. We’ve contacted the White House and Wikileaks for statements and will update this article once we have more information. As it currently stands, Assange faces 18 criminal counts if he’s extradited to the US and could face a sentence of more than 170 years if convicted on all charges and given the maximum punishment. A Trump pardon would essentially free Assange, but he’d have to be extradited, face US courts, and be convicted before that could happen.
