Trump says he’s thinking about it?
Whew?
This would NOT good down good in the US Intelligence community and even Republican lawmakers…
Lets see if this just goes away as other Trump ‘off the cuff’ stuff tends to do….
President Trump said Saturday that he will consider granting a pardon for Edward Snowden that would allow the National Security Agency leaker to avoid prosecution and return to the United States from exile in Russia.
“I’m going to start looking at it. There are many, many people, it seems to be a split decision, and many people think that he should somehow be treated differently, and other people think he did very bad things,” Trump said during a news conference at his New Jersey golf resort.
Trump added that views of Snowden’s culpability span ideological differences, and he did not definitively say whether he thinks Snowden is a traitor.
Snowden’s guilt is not in doubt. He has acknowledged copying and leaking highly classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013 when he was a Central Intelligence Agency employee and subcontractor.
His supporters call him a whistleblower and say he deserves leniency….
image…NY Post/David Butow; REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/Files
I would be surprised to see Trump pardon Snowden.
If he did that (rightly or wrongly), it would put folks like Chad Wolf and Lindsey Graham in a terrible bind.
It would also make it harder to deny the thesis that Trump is some kind of Siberian Candidate directed by the Kremlin or the GRU.
Siberian candidate. Good one Dave!
Barr Opposed to Trump Pardoning Snowden
Attorney General William Barr told the Associated Press that he would be “vehemently opposed” to any attempt to pardon former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, after the president suggested he might consider it.