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Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Sun Aug 16, 2020, 09:14 AM Aug 2020

Trump says he is considering pardon for leaker Edward Snowden

Source: Reuters

POLITICS AUGUST 15, 2020 / 6:12 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

Trump says he is considering pardon for leaker Edward Snowden

Raphael Satter
4 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he is considering a pardon for Edward Snowden, the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor - now living in Russia - whose spectacular leaks shook the U.S. intelligence community in 2013.

The Republican president's comments followed an interview here Trump gave to the New York Post this week in which he said of Snowden that "there are a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly" by U.S. law enforcement.

“I’m going to start looking at it,” Trump told reporters about a possible pardon, speaking at a news conference at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club.

U.S. authorities for years have wanted Snowden returned to the United States to face a criminal trial on espionage charges brought in 2013.

Snowden fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after he leaked a trove of secret files in 2013 to news organizations that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the NSA.

-snip-


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-snowden/trump-says-he-is-considering-pardon-for-leaker-edward-snowden-idUSKCN25B10Z
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LakeArenal

(28,729 posts)
1. Anything to take the attention way from real life.
Sun Aug 16, 2020, 11:18 AM
Aug 2020

Just do it, Trump.

Another nail in your coffin. Won’t you have egg on your face when Snowden visits you in prison!!!!

SWBTATTReg

(21,859 posts)
2. How can the idiot POS pardon someone for a crime that they have yet to be charged with, being that
Sun Aug 16, 2020, 11:58 AM
Aug 2020

they fled the country (to Russia ultimately).

Eugene

(61,595 posts)
3. A pardon without charges is rare but it can happen (e.g. Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon).
Sun Aug 16, 2020, 12:30 PM
Aug 2020

Poppy Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger, who was indicted for Iran-Contra felonies.

If a federal offense happened and it is not impeachment-related, a president can pardon it.

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