Paul suggests granting Assange immunity in exchange for congressional testimony: Report

By Andrew Blake - The Washington Times - Thursday, 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 Democratic Party documents, Sen. Rand Paul said in an interview published Wednesday.

“I think that he should be given immunity from prosecution in exchange for coming to the United States and testifying,” said Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican.

“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 Democratic emails that would be nice to hear,” Mr. Paul told a writer for The Gateway Pundit site.

Representatives for neither Mr. Assange nor WikiLeaks immediately returned messages seeking comment.

A 47-year-old Australian native, Mr. Assange has been under investigation in the U.S. since 2010 when WikiLeaks published classified diplomatic and military material obtained from the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, respectively. Investigators have more recently taken an interest in his publication of leaked Democratic Party material during the 2016 U.S. presidential race, however, and the Senate Intelligence Committee wrote Mr. 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 Mr. Paul, a member of both the Senate Foreign Relations and Homeland Security Committees.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/16/rand-paul-floats-immunity-julian-assange-senators-/