Pence dismisses WikiLeaks founder Assange's allegation of White House 'takeover'

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has slammed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's charges of him possibly taking over the White House, saying that the allegations were "absurd" and "frankly offensive."

"I would find all of that dialogue to be absurd and frankly offensive. It is the greatest honor of my life to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with the 45th President of the United States. To see his leadership every day, to see the compassion that he has for the American people every day. I would dismiss that out of hand and tell you that I'm just, I'm so excited about the progress that we've been made strengthening this country, protecting this country, reviving this country's economy and all credit goes to President Donald Trump," Pence told radio host Laura Ingraham, reports CNN.

Assange took to Twitter to state that Hillary Clinton was pushing for a "Pence takeover" of the White House and claimed two intelligence officials were planning on such a takeover.

Following Pence's response, Assange posted another tweet saying:

Following the 2010 leaks of secret American documents, the United States government launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks and asked allied nations for assistance.

Assange surrendered himself to UK police on 7 December 2010 and was held for ten days in solitary confinement before being released on bail.

He sought and was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012 and has since remained in the Embassy of Ecuador in London, unable to leave without being arrested for breaching his bail conditions.