Eric Holder: The Justice Department could strike deal with Edward Snowden
Source: WP
Former Attorney General Eric Holder said today that a possibility exists for the Justice Department to cut a deal with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that would allow him to return to the United States from Moscow.
In an interview with Yahoo News, Holder said we are in a different place as a result of the Snowden disclosures and that his actions spurred a necessary debate that prompted President Obama and Congress to change policies on the bulk collection of phone records of American citizens.
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Holders comments came as he began a new job as a private lawyer at Covington & Burling, the elite Washington law firm where he worked before serving as the nations top law enforcement officer from February 2009 until last April.
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Its also not clear whether Holders comments signal a shift in Obama administration attitudes that could result in a resolution of the charges against Snowden. Melanie Newman, chief spokeswoman for Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Holders successor, immediately shot down the idea that the Justice Department was softening its stance on Snowden.
This is an ongoing case so I am not going to get into specific details but I can say our position regarding bringing Edward Snowden back to the United States to face charges has not changed, she said in an email.
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But Wizner, Snowdens lawyer, said any felony plea by Snowden that results in prison time would be unacceptable to his client. Our position is he should not be reporting to prison as a felon and losing his civil rights as a result of his act of conscience, he said.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/politics/eric-holder-the-justice-department-could-strike-123393663066.html
This announcement is a trial balloon. They want to know your reaction.
markpkessinger
(8,409 posts). . . but I'm not holding my breath.
Beauregard
(376 posts)Wouldn't that be a breath of fresh air?
But there will be people in this thread who will say that Snowden is a narcissistic, publicity-mad libertarian traitor who deserves to go to prison.
valerief
(53,235 posts)of the government. Even if he does get pardoned and returns, he'll have to deal with deadly American morons.
delrem
(9,688 posts)Others more compassionate just want him to serve the rest of his life in solitary.
Of these there are some who wouldn't mind to see him water-boarded and worse, worse forever if their imagination needs the room, so long as nobody is caught, so long as nobody can prove it in a court of law - all of which are owned.
(If someone is caught it's a black eye, but if nobody is caught it's a feather in our cap.)
This way we get to discern a "liberal center". A land of "bleeding hearts".
on point
(2,506 posts)Should be a question for all presidential contenders