GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher meets with WikiLeaks' Julian Assange
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, met Wednesday with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London.
Assange's WikiLeaks, which published hacked Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 presidential campaign, is believed to have obtained the emails from Russian intelligence, according to U.S. intelligence agencies. Assange, who has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 in an effort to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges, has disputed this.
"He reaffirmed his aggressive denial that the Russians had anything to do with the hacking of the DNC during the election," Rohrabacher told the Orange County Register. "He has given us a lot of information. He said there's more to come. We don't have the entire picture yet."
Assange "emphatically stated that the Russians were not involved in the hacking or disclosure of those emails," according to a statement from Rohrabacher's office.
Rohrabacher, a former Reagan White House communications aide, is an outspoken defender of Russian President Vladimir Putin and one of the Democrats' top targets for the 2018 midterm elections. He is a fervent supporter of President Trump, who has also cast doubt on whether Russia was involved in the 2016 election meddling.
Speaking of the information he says he obtained from Assange, Rohrabacher told the Register it would have "an earth-shattering political impact. It wouldn't be so important if Democrats hadn't focused so inordinately on the Russians. Democrats are creating a total upheaval over this."
"I have some information to give the president before I give information to anyone else," he added.