Sort of. As a US President, Trump has power to impact the actions of other nations, but he has to have willing people on the other side of the deal.
He could possibly pardon Assange in advance for federal crimes, but there is a good chance that Democrats still butt-hurt over 2016 would drum up charges in individual states.
At this point, as a layman, I think that Trump's best case scenario to help Assange would be to try and get Assange to the US AFTER Trump wins the election in 2020, and then, as soon as the statute of limitations on his criminal activities expired, pardon him.
If we bring him here before Trump is re-elected, and Democrats somehow manage to win the Presidency, Assange might get stuck in a US prison, and not kill himself, like Epstein.
If Trump pardons him before the statute of limitations runs out on his criminal activities (they almost certainly WERE illegal, even if well-intentioned) then the Democrats will re-charge him under state laws, which Trump cannot legally interfere with.
One more thing. Assange might want absolutely NOTHING to do with the US. Remember Seth Rich? While it is possible that Seth's murder was coincidence, and Assange won't say clearly that Seth was his source of Democrat emails, those two things together, if Assange believes them to be related, will make him desperately want to stay away from the US, even as a free man, due to fears of being Epstein'd or Seth Rich'd.
I do not give much credence to nefarious claims of evil deeds without evidence, but the Seth Rich issue could easily be impacting Assange's thinking even if Seth Rich's murder had nothing to do with the Democrat emails. Assange only needs to think they are related.
This is not a simple fix. It's even possible that Assange WANTS to stay in British prison because he feels it's safer there than being brought to the US.
Good point. He controls (via Barr) the DoJ, though? So can't he end the extridition request or just drop the charges?
Sort of. As a US President, Trump has power to impact the actions of other nations, but he has to have willing people on the other side of the deal.
He could possibly pardon Assange in advance for federal crimes, but there is a good chance that Democrats still butt-hurt over 2016 would drum up charges in individual states.
At this point, as a layman, I think that Trump's best case scenario to help Assange would be to try and get Assange to the US AFTER Trump wins the election in 2020, and then, as soon as the statute of limitations on his criminal activities expired, pardon him.
If we bring him here before Trump is re-elected, and Democrats somehow manage to win the Presidency, Assange might get stuck in a US prison, and not kill himself, like Epstein.
If Trump pardons him before the statute of limitations runs out on his criminal activities (they almost certainly WERE illegal, even if well-intentioned) then the Democrats will re-charge him under state laws, which Trump cannot legally interfere with.
One more thing. Assange might want absolutely NOTHING to do with the US. Remember Seth Rich? While it is possible that Seth's murder was coincidence, and Assange won't say clearly that Seth was his source of Democrat emails, those two things together, if Assange believes them to be related, will make him desperately want to stay away from the US, even as a free man, due to fears of being Epstein'd or Seth Rich'd.
I do not give much credence to nefarious claims of evil deeds without evidence, but the Seth Rich issue could easily be impacting Assange's thinking even if Seth Rich's murder had nothing to do with the Democrat emails. Assange only needs to think they are related.
This is not a simple fix. It's even possible that Assange WANTS to stay in British prison because he feels it's safer there than being brought to the US.
how complicated! and terrible.