Nigel Farage reveals what happened at his mystery meeting with Julian Assange in Ecuadorian embassy – Telegraph.co.uk

The episode looks at how Assanges website WikiLeaks published Democratic emails which roiled the Hillary Clinton campaign while he was holed up in a first-floor apartment at the Ecuadorian embassy in Belgravia, London.

TheUS government has accused Russian spies of obtaining the emails through hacking in an attempt to help Mr Trumps campaign.

Assange, who has always denied any wrongdoing, has since left the Ecuadorian embassy and is fighting extradition to America on unrelated charges.

Mr Farage made headlines when he was photographed at the entrance to the Ecuadorian embassy in March 2017, after Mr Trumps inauguration but during heightened media attention on the Trump-Russia saga.

Mr Farage has rarely spoken about the incident but told The Daily Telegraph that he made the visit because LBC, the radio station where he is a presenter, had set up an interview.

Well theres no mystery. I mean, goodness gracious me. Some of this stuff, you know, that I was passing memory sticks direct from the president to Assange. I mean I read all this with incredulity, Mr Farage said.

He added: LBC reached out to organise a meeting and they asked me would I go. I went with my producer. Look at the footage, the two of us walk in the building. That's why I was there. LBC themselves have backed that up, confirmed it in writing. There is no conspiracy.

At the time of the interview the US government had already pointed the finger at Russia for hacking into the Democratic National Committee to obtain emails.

WikiLeaks was also facing criticism for its role in publishing the material, given the negative impact it had on the Clinton campaign.

However, Mr Farage insists that during the visit he did not talk about hacked emails or Russia with Assange.

I talked to him about the European Arrest Warrant, which I'm particularly interested in. I've been opposed to it from the start. I don't like the way that it's applied, Mr Farage said.

And clearly, we talked about well, you know, you're holed up in this place, you've been here for five years, I mean, when are you going to get out?

Robert Mueller, the special counsel who investigated Russian election meddling and connections to the Trump campaign, made no mention of the meeting in his report.

Mr Farage does get one mention - that a Trump ally speculatedthat he could help gain access to Assange. But there is no evidence any such request was ever made.

During work on the podcast The Telegraph was given access to the Ecuadorian embassy to see where Assange had been living for almost seven years.

The embassy, essentially anapartment, was made up of around a dozen rooms where Assange and embassy officials mingled.

The door frame leading into one room Assange was said to have frequently occupied had a keypad on, with sources saying only he knew the code.

Assange often moved round the embassy at night and there was sometimes tensionwith embassy officials, according to those who sawthe arrangement up close.

The hearing over whether Assange should be extradited to America to face charges over the release of secret diplomatic and military documents beginning in 2010 remains on-going.

Assange has always denied doing anything wrong over publishing the material.

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Nigel Farage reveals what happened at his mystery meeting with Julian Assange in Ecuadorian embassy - Telegraph.co.uk