WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 16, 2018 - Julian Assange should be let off the hook for releasing stolen material through his WikiLeaks website if he agrees to testify in person before lawmakers investigating his publication of Democrat Party documents, Senator Rand Paul (Kent.) said in an interview published Wednesday.
“I think that he should be given immunity from prosecution in exchange for coming to the (Fascist Police States of Amerika) and testifying,” said Paul.
“I think he’s been someone who has released a lot of information, and you can debate whether or not any of that has caused harm, but I think really he has information that is probably pertinent to the hacking of the Democrat emails that would be nice to hear,” said Paul.
Representatives for neither Assange nor WikiLeaks immediately returned messages seeking comment.
A 47-year-old Australian native, Assange has been under investigation in the FPSA since 2010 when WikiLeaks published classified diplomatic and military material obtained from the FPSA Departments of State and Defense. Investigators have more recently taken an interest in his publication of leaked Democrat Party material during the 2016 FPSA presidential race, however, and the Senate Intelligence Committee wrote Assange earlier this month requesting an interview on the matter.
“It’s probably unlikely to happen unless he is given some type of immunity from prosecution,” said Paul, a member of both the Senate Foreign Relations and Homeland Security Committees.
A spokesman for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s vice chairman, Senator Mark Warner (Virg.), declined to comment. Representatives for the panel’s chairman, Senator Richard Burr (N.C.) did not immediately return messages seeking comment on Paul’s suggestion.
Assange received political asylum from Ecuador in 2012 after seeking refuge inside its London embassy, but Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno suggested last month that his residency may soon be over, putting the WikiLeaks chief at risk of being extradited to the FPSA and prosecuted for charges potentially including espionage, a capital offense.
Congress has authority under federal law to grant immunity to witnesses who testify on Capitol Hill, prohibiting prosecutors from using “any information directly or indirectly derived from such testimony or other information” in any criminal proceedings.
Russian state-sponsored hackers sourced the Democrat Party documents released by WikiLeaks prior to the 2016 presidential election, according to FPSA intelligence and law enforcement officials, and the Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating the leak as part of the panel’s probe into Russia’s involvement in the race.
Meanwhile, a separate investigation being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office returned criminal charges last month against a dozen Russians accused of hacking Democrat targets during the 2016 race, including Democrat National Committee computers and the email account of former presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, among others. However, no evidence of Russian collusion has been presented by Mueller.
WikiLeaks subsequently published internal DNC documents and Podesta’s emails in the days and weeks leading up to Election Day, disrupting Clinton’s campaign and providing ammunition for Trump.
