Julian Assange won’t hand over docs to House Judiciary …

Julian Assange, who has lived as a fugitive in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for years, was unlikely to cooperate voluntarily with congressional investigators. | Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Congress

By KYLE CHENEY

03/21/2019 10:23 AM EDT

Updated 03/21/2019 01:45 PM EDT

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has declined to provide documents to the House Judiciary Committees broad inquiry into actions by President Donald Trump, his lawyer confirmed Thursday morning.

The First Amendment dictates that an inquiry by Congress should not begin by issuing requests to journalists for documents pertaining to its newsgathering, the attorney, Barry Pollack, wrote in an email.

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Assange has long parried criticism that he acted on behalf of Russia when he posted hacked Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee emails in 2016 by suggesting his actions were no different than journalists accepting and publishing confidential documents.

But the U.S. intelligence community has assessed that WikiLeaks was an active participant in the effort to obtain and post Democratic emails, partnering with Russian propaganda outlets and acting as a tool of the Russian government. Assange has denied such claims.

Assange, who has lived as a fugitive in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for years, was unlikely to cooperate with congressional investigators. Hes the latest of 81 people and entities to decline a Judiciary Committee request for documents.

So far, the committee has received upward of 25 responses to its document requests. About a dozen witnesses have publicly confirmed that they had given or intended to provide documents including former Trump aide Hope Hicks, National Enquirer parent company American Media, Trump confidant Thomas Barrack, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and the lobbying firm of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Former Trump deputy campaign manager Rick Gates a longtime ally of Trump onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort declined to provide materials or testimony to the committee, citing his ongoing cooperation with federal prosecutors, but left the door open to cooperating later. Former Trump legal team spokesman Mark Corallo said his communications were protected by attorney-client and work-product privilege.

Longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone also declined to cooperate with the committee investigation. In a letter obtained Thursday by POLITICO, Stone's attorney Grant Smith indicated that Stone would invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination in order to decline the panel's request. He called the investigation a "fishing expedition" but said he declined with the "utmost respect" for the committee.

POLITICO has reached out to nearly all 81 people and entities targeted by the Judiciary Committee, but dozens have declined to confirm if they have supplied or intend to supply documents. The committee has also declined to detail specific responses, though committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said on CNN on Wednesday that he wasnt sure it had quite reached a majority of the 81.

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