Fake News: Media Push False Claim Trump Offered Julian Assange a Pardon Quid-Pro-Quo

Former California Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has denied that he acted on orders from President Donald Trump to offer Julian Assange a deal for a pardon, saying that he never spoke to the president about the offer. The Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, and other mainstream outlets all ran sensational headlines claiming Trump was directly involved, despite some of the reports acknowledging Rohrabacher’s denial.

Rohrabacher’s claim calls into question accusations made earlier this week by a Wikileaks attorney who alleged that Rohrabacher was acting “on instructions” from President Trump to offer clemency to Assange if he confirmed Russia wasn’t involved in leaking Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Mainstream outlets including The Washington Post, The Guardian, Reuters, and the Associated Press ran with the initial allegation, printing sensational headlines implicating President Trump, even though some of them acknowledged in their reporting that Rohrabacher denied he was following orders from the president.

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