The fake news media appears determined to keep believing in the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, Big Foot, and Russian collusion by the Trump Campaign. Unfounded rumors have once again begun passing for journalism as the headlines are inaccurately stating the President Donald Trump offered WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a pardon.
Former California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher apparently made contact with Assange and his attorney in a fact-finding effort to get to the bottom of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) email hack during the run-up to the 2016 election. Many recall that the DNC was hacked by cybercriminals using the pseudonym Guccifer 2.0, and Hillary Clinton’s unsecured email server left party members vulnerable.
“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 reportedly said. “He knew I could get to the president.”
But the fake news media is now spinning this as a quid pro quo that Assange was being asked to lie and say Russian operatives were not on President Trump’s side. The intelligence community later determined that Russians were sowing the seeds of discord across party lines. Although they may have targeted Hillary more due to her widely reported likelihood of winning, no Trump official worked in conjunction with foreign entities. Another caveat the anti-Trump media is conveniently sidestepping is the fact Rohrabacher was neither working on the White House’s behalf nor did he broach a potential deal with Assange.
“At no time did I talk to President Trump about Julian Assange,” he reportedly said. “Likewise, I was not directed by Trump or anyone else connected with him to meet with Julian Assange.”
Biased reports are using heightened rhetoric to underpin misquotes and half-truths in what appears to be an attempt to resurrect the Russia narrative.
“Once known as ‘Putin’s favorite congressman’ for his pro-Russia stance, Rohrabacher embraced the theory that Russia did not actually hack the DNC during the last presidential election, despite the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that it did,” politically biased outlet Business Insider writes.
Some of the more extreme left-wing media outlets such as The Verge are spinning a cover-up narrative with headlines such as: “Julian Assange’s lawyers say Trump offered pardon in exchange for concealing source of DNC leaks.”
Some of the least credible outlets have been relying on the words of Assange’s desperate legal council who are facing extradition to the U.S. If the WikiLeaks founder is brought to trial in the U.S., he could face what amounts to a life imprisonment sentence. But for all his boasts that the California congressman may have made, the reality is that he had zero influence with Pres. Trump.
“The President barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he’s an ex-congressman. He’s never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said. “It is a complete fabrication and a total lie.”
