Will Trump Pardon Snowden?

[c_atlas]

https://reason.com/2020/08/14/trump-teases-possible-edward-snowden-pardon-he-should-do-it/

This is an exciting prospect, no? Trump pardoning Snowden before the election would definitely spice things up, and would probably be one of the most controversial (and memorable) moments of his presidency.

[BADecker]

Ross was screwed by his attorneys. So, yes, pardon him. But if there will be a pardon for Snowden, there should be one for Julian Assange, as well.


Trump To PARDON Edward Snowden? - How Freeing Snowden & Ross Ulbricht Could SAVE Trump's Preside

Josh Sigurdson reports on the recent news that Trump is considering possibly pardoning Edward Snowden.

Following a New York Post article and interview, news broke that President Donald Trump said that "A lot of people think that Edward Snowden is not being treated fairly." Trump went on to say he's looking very closely at possibly pardoning Snowden.

Edward Snowden is renowned for NSA leaks which lead to his exile in Moscow.

The fact that people who expose criminality and corruption are the ones in hiding or in cages says everything you need to know about modern society. Ross Ulbricht has been locked in a cage for years for building a website. Michael Edwards has been locked up for 27 years for a non-violent offense. Julian Assange has been locked up and is reportedly being tortured for passing on facts from other people.

This needs to end now. Trump's presidency could potentially be saved by pardons. Besides, it's the right thing to do regardless. These innocent people should not be in cages for telling the truth or for non-violent offenses.

Trump To PARDON Edward Snowden? - How Freeing Snowden & Ross Ulbricht Could SAVE Trump's Presidency!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhrQRR8f5yc

[Cnut237]

Snowden has been unfairly demonised for what was a tremendous act of public service, as is unfortunately often the case with whistleblowers. Vilification rather than protection is the standard approach. There are obvious parallels here with Chelsea Manning, whose ludicrously harsh sentence was commuted by Obama. Normally you'd expect Trump to be vehemently opposed to someone like Snowden, who is a sort of anti-Trump in that he is famous for exposing hidden truths.

Normally you'd expect Trump to be decrying him as a traitor and not even considering releasing him... but obviously the word 'Russia' looms large in this.

[Juggy777]

https://reason.com/2020/08/14/trump-teases-possible-edward-snowden-pardon-he-should-do-it/

This is an exciting prospect, no? Trump pardoning Snowden before the election would definitely spice things up, and would probably be one of the most controversial (and memorable) moments of his presidency.

Snowden has been unfairly demonised for what was a tremendous act of public service, as is unfortunately often the case with whistleblowers. Vilification rather than protection is the standard approach. There are obvious parallels here with Chelsea Manning, whose ludicrously harsh sentence was commuted by Obama. Normally you'd expect Trump to be vehemently opposed to someone like Snowden, who is a sort of anti-Trump in that he is famous for exposing hidden truths.

Normally you'd expect Trump to be decrying him as a traitor and not even considering releasing him... but obviously the word 'Russia' looms large in this.

@c_atlas if Trump ends up pardoning him then he’ll leave the voters further divided, because some will consider this pardon as fair and may suddenly decide to vote for him. Also if Democrats oppose this move then they’ll risk upsetting the American citizens who have been demanding the presidential pardon for Snowden for quiet a while now, and hence this pardon can definitely be a game changer in the upcoming US presidential elections.

[PrimeNumber7]

It is rare for Presidents to make pardons in general before elections, especially controversial pardons. So I don’t see this happening before whenever the election is settled.

I can see Snowden getting a Trump pardon though.

In March 2013, James Clapper was asked in congressional testimony if the NSA mass collected information on Americans and he responded the NSA doesn’t “wittingly” collect data on Americans in mass. source. Being that the head of the NSA was lying about the program under oath, there were few options for a whistleblower to expose the program and allow the public to make their own conclusions on the program. This is very similar to how the Trump campaign was spied on by the Obama administration spy agencies, so I think the situation will resonate with Trump.

[Gyfts]

It is rare for Presidents to make pardons in general before elections, especially controversial pardons. So I don’t see this happening before whenever the election is settled.

I can see Snowden getting a Trump pardon though.

In March 2013, James Clapper was asked in congressional testimony if the NSA mass collected information on Americans and he responded the NSA doesn’t “wittingly” collect data on Americans in mass. source. Being that the head of the NSA was lying about the program under oath, there were few options for a whistleblower to expose the program and allow the public to make their own conclusions on the program. This is very similar to how the Trump campaign was spied on by the Obama administration spy agencies, so I think the situation will resonate with Trump.

James Clapper is also the one who promised everybody that Trump definitely colluded with Russia and went on all the TV news shows trying to convince everybody that Trump would land in jail. He's a partisan hack and a liar.

[PrimeNumber7]

It is rare for Presidents to make pardons in general before elections, especially controversial pardons. So I don’t see this happening before whenever the election is settled.

I can see Snowden getting a Trump pardon though.

In March 2013, James Clapper was asked in congressional testimony if the NSA mass collected information on Americans and he responded the NSA doesn’t “wittingly” collect data on Americans in mass. source. Being that the head of the NSA was lying about the program under oath, there were few options for a whistleblower to expose the program and allow the public to make their own conclusions on the program. This is very similar to how the Trump campaign was spied on by the Obama administration spy agencies, so I think the situation will resonate with Trump.

James Clapper is also the one who promised everybody that Trump definitely colluded with Russia and went on all the TV news shows trying to convince everybody that Trump would land in jail. He's a partisan hack and a liar.

Yes Clapper should be in jail for his lies he made under oath regarding Snowden and others.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Obama spy agencies did the same thing to the Romney campaign as they did to the Trump campaign, or worse.

[squatz1]

Eh. I still think this isn't going to happen.

I think most people in the intelligence community, who Trump may still not trust so much, are going to advise against a move like this. They're going to point to the fact that Snowden not only released files relating to Americans being spied on, but ALSO released files that put national security at risk - this is a talking point among those types of people.

Trump on multiple occasions has called for the death penalty of Snowden. Though I think a few of these times were really just him trying to call Obama soft, not sure how recent these claims were.

Can't see it happening.

[Cnut237]

I think most people in the intelligence community, who Trump may still not trust so much, are going to advise against a move like this.

Personally I'm not sure how likely it is to happen. It is always difficult to tell with Trump; what he says and what he does are often completely irreconcilable.
But one thing we should never underestimate Trump on is his ego and his desire for revenge against those who have wronged him (or who he perceives as having wronged him).
It seems plausible to me that Trump might release Snowden just as revenge against the intelligence agencies.

[Gyfts]

Eh. I still think this isn't going to happen.

I think most people in the intelligence community, who Trump may still not trust so much, are going to advise against a move like this. They're going to point to the fact that Snowden not only released files relating to Americans being spied on, but ALSO released files that put national security at risk - this is a talking point among those types of people.

Trump on multiple occasions has called for the death penalty of Snowden. Though I think a few of these times were really just him trying to call Obama soft, not sure how recent these claims were.

Can't see it happening.

Trump flips on what he thinks of people every month so whatever he thought of him in the past won't affect what he thinks of Snowden now.

We aren't just talking about files that put national security at risk, we are talking about files that demonstrated the rampant abuse of illegal surveillance of private U.S. citizens and the gross overreach of power. The NSA/CIA forced private companies to hand over phone records through a court order without producing warrants for the request of these records and then tapped into private servers of large tech companies. That in itself is a national security risk when you consolidate this much power into a couple of agencies.

[BADecker]

Eh. I still think this isn't going to happen.

I think most people in the intelligence community, who Trump may still not trust so much, are going to advise against a move like this. They're going to point to the fact that Snowden not only released files relating to Americans being spied on, but ALSO released files that put national security at risk - this is a talking point among those types of people.

Trump on multiple occasions has called for the death penalty of Snowden. Though I think a few of these times were really just him trying to call Obama soft, not sure how recent these claims were.

Can't see it happening.

Trump flips on what he thinks of people every month so whatever he thought of him in the past won't affect what he thinks of Snowden now.

We aren't just talking about files that put national security at risk, we are talking about files that demonstrated the rampant abuse of illegal surveillance of private U.S. citizens and the gross overreach of power. The NSA/CIA forced private companies to hand over phone records through a court order without producing warrants for the request of these records and then tapped into private servers of large tech companies. That in itself is a national security risk when you consolidate this much power into a couple of agencies.

Trump flips on what he says on a regular basis because the climate of the world changes on a regular basis. Even though he has a great team of investigators, they can't get all the information in the world at once, and sort it into something useful for Trump to feed to the nation. Things change in the world, and Trump has to change with them. Too bad most of the other presidents wouldn't do that.



EDIT: Which reminds me at the same time it disgusts me. The people don't really care. How do we know? George H.W. Bush was president from 1989 to 1993. His son, George W. Bush, was president from 2001 to 2009. But the stickler is, their father/grandfather, Prescott Bush, supported Hitler in WW2 with banking and shipping and who-knows-what. Congress even shut his bank down. How in the world did we get his kids as presidents? Ignorant public.

[Mauser]

https://reason.com/2020/08/14/trump-teases-possible-edward-snowden-pardon-he-should-do-it/

This is an exciting prospect, no? Trump pardoning Snowden before the election would definitely spice things up, and would probably be one of the most controversial (and memorable) moments of his presidency.

This seems a bit unrealistic to me. Trump has a strong standing in military families, pardoning Snowden could ruin his base voters. I don't think he is risking any backlash from such actions before the elections. Another question would be if Snowden could actually come back to USA. If Trump would pardon him, would Putin let him leave Russia? He might still have valuable information he didn't share with anyone yet.

[c_atlas]

https://reason.com/2020/08/14/trump-teases-possible-edward-snowden-pardon-he-should-do-it/

This is an exciting prospect, no? Trump pardoning Snowden before the election would definitely spice things up, and would probably be one of the most controversial (and memorable) moments of his presidency.

This seems a bit unrealistic to me. Trump has a strong standing in military families, pardoning Snowden could ruin his base voters.

What about the whole James Mattis situation? Trump seemed alright with throwing Mattis in the mud. IMO most people who served in the military would find a Snowden pardon less contemptible than what Trump did to Mattis (and Mattis' denunciation of Trump was probably more influential than a Snowden pardon would be).

[allahabadi]

https://reason.com/2020/08/14/trump-teases-possible-edward-snowden-pardon-he-should-do-it/

This is an exciting prospect, no? Trump pardoning Snowden before the election would definitely spice things up, and would probably be one of the most controversial (and memorable) moments of his presidency.

It wud be memorable and controversial; but it won't fetch him votes... Maybe he simply was toying with the idea to see if it fetches him votes... Rest we'll never know for sure unless he gets a second term...

[squatz1]

https://reason.com/2020/08/14/trump-teases-possible-edward-snowden-pardon-he-should-do-it/

This is an exciting prospect, no? Trump pardoning Snowden before the election would definitely spice things up, and would probably be one of the most controversial (and memorable) moments of his presidency.

Interesting? Yes.

Memorable? Yes.

Controversial? Totally.

Is it going to happen? Totally not.

The intelligence community would kill him faster then they killed Kennedy. The last thing the IC wants is people being emboldened to talk about all the horrible shit that they do all the time without any oversight.

He's not going to do it, it's just a regular Trump think of having breaking news be so crazy all the time that we have fatigue.

[Spendulus]

https://reason.com/2020/08/14/trump-teases-possible-edward-snowden-pardon-he-should-do-it/

This is an exciting prospect, no? Trump pardoning Snowden before the election would definitely spice things up, and would probably be one of the most controversial (and memorable) moments of his presidency.

Well, will Snowden pardon Trump?

[B1tUnl0ck3r]

The real victim in all of this is Assange !! Abandonned by the australian gov, left to rote in the "tower of london"... he revealed some of the corruption of those behind Biden... So that's him toward him that Trump should help justice...

[BADecker]

The really scary question is, after Trump gets in for his second term, will he pardon Biden rather than have him executed for treason?

[Searing]

I think Trump will pardon Snowden. (I seem to be the only one voting such in the OP's Poll above)

1) This is because Trump has talked about this with his staff and press before that he might do this.

2) He can use the above to point out that he is for 'free speech' and hell, he might actually pardon WikiLeaks founder

Julian Assange...using the 'same' logic and muddy the waters on election meddling/if/when/but/or it exists or not. More reasons,

IMHO, to pardon WikiLeaks/Founder Julian Assange....then Snowden IMHO.

3) I'd guess that IF he did pardon either of the above he would pardon both

So I figure the odds are 50/50 both would get pardoned...which is much better odds than they will have under the Biden Adminstration, IMHO.

Brad

[nullius]

[Subject: Will Trump Pardon Snowden?]

If he wants a way really to make “civil liberties” liberals’ heads explode.  They would be so confused!