Assange is facing 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act for encouraging former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into defence systems.
"I don’t believe he would be able to get what I would consider to be a fair trial in the United States," Durkin said.
Durkin said Assange faced the rest of his life in jail if extradited to the United States where he would be pressured into accepting a plea bargain, pleading guilty to reduce his sentence to avoid what he called the "trial tax," where prosecutors call for lengthy sentences as a way of punishing criminals who exercise their right to a trial.Durkin completed giving evidence by confirming that the was being paid by Assange's legal team for his time and expert testimony.
But when asked if he would disclose the sum, Durkin said: "Only if the judge will redact [the amount] so that my other clients can't see" he said.On Wikileaks, Trump has held a variety of views, some of them contradictory. Trump told supporters "I love Wikileaks" in the same year that the website published Democratic National Committee emails, which multiple US intelligence agencies concluded were stolen by Russian hackers.
However, he has also attempted to distance himself from Assange, saying he doesn't know anything about him.Assange is in remand in Britain's Belmarsh Prison while his extradition hearing takes place at the Old Bailey in London.
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