President Trump will consider a request to pardon NSA leaker Edward Snowden who released a treasure trove of national secrets in 2013.
“I’m going to start looking at it,” Trump said at a news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Snowden was granted asylum by Russia in 2013.
Snowden’s leaks exposed a vast domestic and international surveillance operation carried out by the NSA. U.S. authorities have since sought to have Snowden return to face criminal espionage charges.
His attorney tells it differently.
“He was acting not only in the interest of the American citizens, but in the interest of all the humankind,” the attorney, Anatoly Kucherena, said.
The NSA was collecting data on every American.
Trump once called him a spy who should be executed. Perhaps he now sees him as more of a leaker. I used to think Snowden should have gone through the legal process as a leaker but after having seen how our intel agencies operate, I’d sooner believe in the Tooth Fairy.
Maybe the President should pardon Julian Assange while he’s at it?
