Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Trump Tried to Cut Deal With Assange


The Daily Beast reports that Trump made overtures to Julian Assange offering the WikiLeaks founder a pardon if he would cover up the Russian involvement in hacking Democratic Party emails in 2016.

President Trump offered to pardon Julian Assange if he agreed to cover up the involvement of Russia in hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee, which were later published by WikiLeaks, a London court was told on Wednesday.
...
Edward Fitzgerald, Assange’s lawyer, said on Wednesday that a message had been passed on to Assange by former Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. 
Fitzgerald said a statement produced by Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, showed “Mr Rohrabacher going to see Mr Assange and saying, on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr Assange... said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC leaks.”

More here from msn.com

8 comments:

Purple library guy said...

This is weird, even though it seems to be coming from Assange's legal team. Assange maintained from the very beginning that Russia had nothing to do with the leaks (or at least, that he was not aware of any Russian involvement--if there were Russian involvement there would be no reason for them to tell him). The person who actually gave him the material said the same, indicating that he got it from an internal leaker--not that the FBI ever asked either of them. Mind you, I can imagine Trump being ignorant enough to not realize that and offer some kind of deal where Assange did exactly what he had already been consistently doing. Or maybe they wanted him to make up some details on matters he would not actually have known about.

I also find it . . . surreal, though not remotely surprising, that we're now at a place where not just the media but apparently Assange's lawyers talk as though we know the Russians were the ones who acquired that evidence of DNC corruption. To this day I've seen stuff like the CIA or FBI saying they're "confident" it's the case, but what I haven't seen is anyone citing evidence. It's just become something we know because we know, because everyone has said it over and over and over so it would feel weird to say different. The closest thing to evidence I've seen came from "Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity", who were of the opinion that transmission speeds of the files involved were not plausible for uploading offsite, but were plausible for loading onto a thumb drive on site.

The Disaffected Lib said...

The DoJ is out to extradite Assange. Trump can't derail that without looking complicit, especially after he's interceding on behalf of Flynn. He sends Rohrabacher to London with a side deal that would keep Assange beyond the reach of US authorities.

Maybe Trump fears Assange will spill the truth about Russia if he needs that to save his skin on a US prosecution, anything to stay out of an American prison.

Somebody hacked the DNC servers. It wasn't WikiLeaks. It wasn't the Ukrainians, Trump's straw man. It was the Russians even if you don't want to believe that, PLG.

Assange was coordinating with the Trump campaign. It was no coincidence that, just hours after the Access Hollywood "grab'em by the pussy" tape came out that Assange released a dump of Hillary emails.

Assange, at this point, is a threat to Trump's chances in November. Pardon him. Keep him out of the hands of American prosecutors. Trump must figure that Assange wouldn't hold up under pressure.

Purple library guy said...

We really have no idea who it was, even if you don't want to believe that, Mound. And it was certainly as likely to be a disaffected DNC staffer as anyone else. It's a possibility that has been studiously ignored in the media, but that's the kind of source Wikileaks gets almost everything from, after all.

Far as I know, pretty much nobody has even alleged nonsense like "Assange was coordinating with the Trump campaign". Assange's opinion of Clinton and Trump was always something like, "It's like being asked if you'd rather die of tuberculosis or ebola." You've always had a hard-on for nailing Assange to the wall because he wouldn't be loyal to the United States Democratic party but instead insisted on committing journalism no matter what.

Fundamentally, you're upset that Assange refused to compromise his principles for an end you considered overridingly important. Fine. But allowing your anger to make you misrepresent the man by claiming the opposite, that he was actually unprincipled, is the least admirable thing I've seen on this blog. That anger has led you into joining a coterie of authoritarians in trying to strangle press freedom worldwide.

But here's the basic point: If Assange were actually unprincipled, he wouldn't be in jail right now, nor would he be facing a lifetime of torture at the hands of US authorities. You can tell who the good guys are--if the authorities will stop at nothing to shaft them even though they haven't blown anybody up, they're probably the good guys. Assange is suffering because he will not stop printing the truth, and they want to make sure everyone else is afraid to do anything similar.

One would have thought someone with a contrarian blog would get that. Who's gonna speak up for you if they come for you, Mound? Will the other bloggers be saying rubbish like "Well, he was always a troublemaker and it's well known he only talked trash about the Liberals because he had a secret deal with Stephen Harper"?

Trailblazer said...

The DoJ is out to extradite Assange.
That says it all.
Assange is nothing but a conduit for leaky information sources.

It can be argued that Assange has gone rogue since his incarceration In the Ecuadorian embassy.

Who would not go 'strange' after such n ordeal?

Assange gave us insight to the alternate world where facts are subdued and manipulated.

If he murders the Pope tomorrow we should give him credit for what he has done.

TB


Anonymous said...

I'm with purplelibraryguy. There is no evidence whatsoever that the Russians hacked the DNC that I have read. And boy, have I read a lot these past four years. It'as all innuendo, no matter what you keep saying, Mr Mound. Just saying the Russians did it doesn't make it so. From the fake Steele "dossier" to Hillary doing official emails at home, and credible reports that downloads were at USB stick speeds that were dismissed, it's hard to get the Russians involved except by personal belief. From the collapse of the Mueller souflee to constant Hillary squawking, my belief and it is only that, a belief, is that all this fuss is of her making. She expected a coronation, kicked Sanders in the goolies, and was outraged when she was beaten by a New York lout. She's been acting like a woman scorned. And she's being incredibly nasty about Sanders again this time around - she's a nasty piece of work in my view. And the wet progressives siding with her and the devious NYT have done nothing but blame the Russians ever since 2016, because it's uncheckable and diverts attention away from reality.

I respect your writings very much, but cannot agree on this subject.

BM

The Disaffected Lib said...


As Purple Library Guy puts it, "we don't have any idea" of the facts and yet we have plenty of ready conclusions. I've read several books on Trump and his dealings.

At the moment I'm working my way through two - "A Very Stable Genius" and "Crime in Progress." I would recommend the latter to those who have delusions that the Steele dossier was a hoax, that is if you're not afraid of letting facts get in the way of your dismissal of it.

I've gone through both of Michael Wolffe's books, "Fire and Fury" and "Siege"

Then there's Bob Woodward's "Fear," "A Warning" by Anonymous, and Michael Isikoff and David Corn's "Russian Roulette."

My point is that I'm at least trying to get some fairly good journalism on these issues instead of just going on gut instinct. I doubt that you would retain your conclusions if you pored over the facts.

And, no, I haven't gotten around to the books penned by Sarah Sanders, Jeanette Pirro ,Sean Spicer or other Trump sycophants. All they demonstrate is that you don't need a proven track record of investigative journalism to fill a book full of conspiracy theories - including the one that the Steele dossier is a hoax.

the salamander said...

.. I have ZERO standing re matters - Assange.. but my interest is supercharged re spooks, black ops, political fraud, data hoarding & theft, captured governments spawned by sold out corrupt political Parties, racism..

I do however have 'skin in The Game Of Trump' .. Why ? How ?
Well, rather than using a hoary old analogy or clever metaphor etc.. I'll outline 'who's skin is it anyway.' thisaway..

My prime personal directive is - Never let my Canadian Environment get fucked over. I say 'mine' but its 'ours' - yet every Canadian has a stake in this.. What is ours is mine and what is mine re Environment is ours.. in my perspective. That's idealism with a stiff shot of altruism on the side plus a smokin hit of realism. Its a daily tonic round me.

Our border with the USA is basically a survey line on maps plus Customs outposts - aka Checkpoint Charleys.. and duly noted that both Harper and now Trudeau are just hunky dory with gifting American Customs special status on our side. But there's a big BUT .. that being the wind and the water, the habitat, the wild species give not a flying fluck.. and I have certain family members on both sides of the survey line who ignore the border without a thought. I would never admit to committing such a crime while I was visiting them heh heh.. its hard to see a border where wheat or cornfields meet & who has not made a mistake when its planting time dusk is falling and besides, it aint just the antelope can go roaming in the gloaming eh ?

To me, Trump represents disaster - to OUR Environment. Neoliberalism knows no borders, pollution knows no borders, corruption respects no borders. Read 'Under The Banner Of Heaven' - Jon Krackauer and get a whiff of Organized Religion knowing no borders. Enough said ? Read 'The 5th Risk' - Michael Lewis.. who wrote The Big Short, Moneyball, The Blindside.. to find out how ridiculously stupid Trump et al really are.. and how insidious the people are who have been moving in to take advantage of the goat rodeo of Washington's absurd political and geopolitical reality. Its some sort of contemporary Titanic made of paper mache, late Roman Empire meets & mingles with Boer War and a likely ending resembling 'On The Beach' - Nevil Shute and last days of Australian society following a far far away nuclear war.. but the damn wind keeps blowing

Do I want to be 'collateral damage' body count because Trump ? Can I accept OUR Environment infringed & assaulted because The Harper Valley Reform PTA Society are just wannabe Republican grifters.. and Trudeau Inc are now walking in the same shoes ? Sold out - captured y'say .. Election Fraud Is Big Business folks.. and neither respect Borders or Environment.. its all Plunder for Power under the flag of Greed & pretend God Is Onside cuz the polls said so.. Mainstream Media sez so too. Well I don't need no Weatherman on TV to tell me its raining.. when someone is pissing on my leg.. or I see the Environment pissed on. I hope Trump gets everything he's earned plus interest. The Travesty that's Trump has my attention, indeed it seems pinned close to dead center on my radar.. so is Trudeau Incorporated. The Lavalin clusterfluck was my final confirmation & the dirtbag reality underway re screwing the Wet'suwet'en along with BC's Horgan hinky sellout is just more dirtbag reality piling on. The political sickness and diseased situational ethics knows no borders.. hell.. there are no borders for such contagion

Northern PoV said...

"spill the truth about Russia "


ya think?