Aussie Senator’s role in potential Trump pardon of Assange revealed

“We’re going to give it very serious consideration,” Mr Trump said when asked about Assange, adding that he would have more to say about the topic in coming speeches.

An Australian senator has revealed that he met former president Donald Trump and had discussions with people close to the former president about the fate of Julian Assange while in America on a delegation pleading for release of the Australian.

South Australian Senator Alex Antic said, “Late last year I visited Washington as part of a cross party delegation to speak to US lawmakers about the release of Julian Assange.”

“On the way home I was fortunate enough to meet President Trump and speak to some of his key insiders about Mr Assange’s plight. Mr Assange’s best chance of a pardon may rest upon the election of Donald J. Trump in November.”

The revelations come as US presidential contender Donald Trump has indicated that he will give “serious consideration” to pardoning Julian Assange if he wins the US election in November.

Mr Trump, who is a narrow favourite to beat incumbent Joe Biden in most polls, made the comments to American podcaster and commentator Tim Pool, who has more than one million subscribers to his podcast.

“We’re going to give it very serious consideration,” Mr Trump said when asked about Assange, adding that he would have more to say about the topic in coming speeches.

In the same interview, Mr Trump said that he would look at the “statute of limitations” to see if there was a possibility of prosecuting former Covid-era chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci for misleading Congress about the pandemic.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in central London in 2016. Picture: Jack Taylor / AFP

The comments come two days after independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr told a Libertarian Party convention, “We shouldn’t be putting (Julian Assange) in prison, we should have a monument to him here in Washington, DC … I’m gonna do what President Trump should have done on my first day in office (and) drop all charges against Julian Assange”.

Assange, who is being held in a British prison, recently won leave to appeal an extradition order seeking to have him sent to the US to face 18 criminal offences including obtaining, receiving and disclosing classified information.

More to come …