Julian Assange lawyer tells court: Trump administration resorted to ‘extortion’ after pardon fell through

An attorney for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused the Trump administration of extortion in a London court on Monday.

The WikiLeaks attorney appeared at Woolwich Crown Court along with U.S. prosecutors, who argued that Assange should be extradited the United States, where he faces 18 charges and up to 175 years in jail.

Attorneys for Assange previously told the court that former Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) tried to broker a pardon deal between the White House and Assange if he would agree to say that Russia was not the source of hacked Democratic Party emails.

Defense attorney Edwards Fitzgerald said on Monday that Rohrabacher had called the pardon offer a “win-win.”

But when the pardon fell through, the Trump administration tried to extort Assange with a political prosecution, according to the attorney.

Read some of the reports from the courtroom below.