[microcolonel]

It actually seems like the most politically-neutral offer he can reasonably make. Many principled people want to see Assange released from his political prosecution, but the Russia narrative, though basically dead at this point, can still be an effective bludgeon or pretense for action: if the pardon is executed haphazardly, and without deference to the aggrieved party (the Democrats), it could be undermined and become worse than nothing.

A lot of people are still salty that Assange did journalism that exposed Hillary Clinton's wrongdoing, even people who idolized him until 2016 for his excellent work on America's foreign conflicts, so it's really hard to navigate this labyrinth and get away with doing the right thing.