WASHINGTON – Actress Pamela Anderson said President-elect Trump should pardon WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange, adding that Hillary Clinton and John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, influenced the outcome of the presidential election, not the document-leaking website.
WikiLeaks posted hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Podesta’s account during the presidential race between Clinton and Trump.
Earlier this month, Anderson wrote a letter to President Obama asking him to pardon Assange.
“He is protecting and informing us all. He has no agenda but to help end corruption of governments and empower people,” she wrote to Obama.
PJM asked Anderson, a friend of Assange, for her reaction to Obama commuting the sentence of Chelsea Manning but not pardoning Assange. Anderson has visited Assange numerous times at the Ecuador Embassy in London where he is living.
“Well, I’m happy that Manning got the pardon and I think it’s a whole new age of appreciating whistleblowers, so I have a lot of hope for Julian,” Anderson said when leaving PETA’s Animals’ Party in D.C. the evening before the presidential inauguration.
When asked if she wants Trump to pardon Assange as president, the “Baywatch” star replied, “Of course.”
A Change.org petition calling on Trump to pardon Assange is attempting to reach 25,000 signatures.
Anderson has also said Trump should cancel the Department of Justice’s investigation into WikiLeaks.
“Hopefully the Trump administration can see, after that election cycle, how important WikiLeaks is – and a free press is, and will cancel Obama’s DOJ’s investigation,” she wrote on her website Wednesday.
The U.S. intelligence community concluded that the Russian government directed a multifaceted influence operation that included hacking in order to hurt Clinton and help Trump. WikiLeaks posted hacked emails that showed the DNC favoring Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during the Democratic primary. Others showed that CNN commentator Donna Brazile, who became the DNC interim chair, gave the Clinton campaign a debate question in advance.
Last month, the Obama administration ordered a full review of the hacks, expanded sanctions against Russian officials and ordered several dozen diplomats to leave the United States.
Anderson was asked if she thinks the hacks helped Trump and influenced the outcome of the presidential election.
“I think the truthful words of Hillary Clinton and Podesta is what influenced the election. It’s actually what’s in the cables – not how they were revealed – that’s the important part,” Anderson said.
Anderson wrote on her website that she attended the PETA event in Washington the night before the inauguration to call for ending the “military trauma training on animals, which has been replaced in countries around the world, and there is bipartisan support to make the U.S. next.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) also attended the PETA event. PJM caught up with Lee and asked her if she agreed with the Democratic members of Congress who have decided to boycott Trump’s inauguration.
“They are not boycotting. They are consciously making a decision. They are not boycotting,” Lee said.
Lee did not say whether or not she is attending the inauguration.
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