Possible pardon of Assange worries intel community

You have to admit it--sometimes President Trump says dumb stuff. Like the time he said that he loves WikiLeaks because they revealed Hillary Clinton's emails. Now a GOP lawmakers suggested that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could be pardoned by Trump and that isn't sitting well with the intelligence community.

The probability for a pardon of Assange appears unlikely, but the fact that not only has the president praised the website, Assange's own efforts to question the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia tried to influence the presidential election helped get Trump off the hook to some degree.

So the idea that Trump might pardon Assange is being taken seriously by intelligence organizations.

"It would send a terrible message to the intelligence community," said Robert Deitz, former senior counselor to the director of the CIA and general counsel at the NSA. 

Deitz is currently a professor at George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government.

"What moral are people supposed to draw from that? Why on Earth would you believe Julian Assange before the intelligence community?" asked Deitz.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) is being investigated for having ties to Russia and he's behind the Assange pardon pursuit. 

The deal Rohrabacher is pushing: pardon Assange in exchange for information he claims proves Russia didn't collude with the Trump campaign in the 2016 presidential race.

He was the first lawmaker to meet with Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London last month. Assange is holed up there for years in order to avoid arrest. Rohrabacher claims at that time, Assange offered him "firsthand" evidence that would prove there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Rohrabacher also claims that a meeting is in the works with himself and Trump to discuss Assange's information and a potential pardon. 

If President Trump pardons the scumquat seditionist, it would be a horrible mistake and it's possible that many people will see it as an indication of some sort of conspiracy.

But a pardon of Assange, while it would be self-serving for Trump, would also cast doubt on the CIA, NSA, FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

And if you don't think that would suck, you might be reading this post from Russia.

"He'd [Trump, that is] show that he'd do anything to skate out of the not just allegation, but clear fact of Russia's involvement [in the election]. That would be appalling," said Glenn Carle, a 23-year veteran of the CIA's clandestine service and who ended his career as deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats on the National Intelligence Council.

Remember, however, Assange hasn't been charged or convicted of any wrongdoing by the United States, so "It would be extremely unusual to pardon someone who hasn't been charged," said Margaret Love. 

Love served as Department of Justice pardon attorney between 1990 and 1997, and noted the exceptions: Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon, Carter's pardon of Vietnam draft dodgers, and Reagan's pardon of illegal immigrants. 

Michael Borohovski, a former intelligence contractor said that a pardon of Assange would reinforce the idea the it's okay to leak.

"Assange allegedly was involved with a few of the largest intelligence leaks of all time. Pardoning him would make it seem okay," he said.

No, most informed Americans don't love WikiLeaks.

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