There have been questions surrounding the connection between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 elections. A former FBI official has warned that former President Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr may be in trouble should WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be extradited to the US.
Former FBI counterintelligence assistant director Frank Figliuzzi weighed in on the possibility of Assange being extradited to the US. This follows reports that government lawyers secured an appeal against a court ruling in London that blocked Assange from getting extradited from the UK. Assange is wanted for trial for WikiLeaks’ publishing of classified military documents related to the conflicts of the US with Afghanistan and Iraq.
According to Figliuzzi, if Assange is extradited and interviews are granted, the Wikileaks founder may provide information linking the former president and his son as well as Roger Stone to the Russians with the possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Figliuzzi explained that the information Assange may have would shed light on the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
“There’s at least three people who should be very concerned about the possibility of Assange being extradited to the United States,” said Figliuzzi. “First, former President Trump, secondly, Donald Trump Jr., and also Roger Stone, and here’s why,”
“Assange possesses the capability, the knowledge to help close the gap between all of that Mueller investigation talk of collusion with Russia and the 2016 campaign, and the gap between that and criminal chargeable conspiracy with Russia,” said Figliuzzi.
The former president is currently facing a number of lawsuits and investigations, two of which are notably in New York, by the Manhattan District Attorney and the New York Attorney General’s offices. New York Attorney General Letitia James responded to the lawsuit that the former president is filing against her in an attempt to derail the probe into the Trump Organization.
“The Trump Organization has continually sought to delay our investigation into its business dealings and now Donald Trump and his namesake company have filed a lawsuit as an attempted collateral attack on that investigation,” James said in a statement. “To be clear, neither Mr. Trump nor the Trump Organization get to dictate if and where they will answer for their actions. Our investigation will continue undeterred because no one is above the law, not even someone with the name Trump.”