President Trump said Saturday that he is considering granting whistleblower Edward Snowden a pardon, USA Today reported in an Aug.15 article by Michael Collins, David Jackson, and Courtney Subramanian. The President said, “I’m going to take a look at that very strongly,” during a press conference at the President’s golf resort in New Jersey. Reportedly, this was Trump’s second discussion in recent days of possibly pardoning Snowden, and there was an immediate war-whoop against it from Capitol Hill.
Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, has been living in exile in Moscow since fleeing the U.S. six years ago, after leaking information on the most secretive U.S. spy agencies’ mass surveillance programs. His revelations of the extent of NSA, CIA, and other intelligence agencies’ gathering of conversations and emails, were a shock to ordinary citizens, as well as to many in government. Snowden’s revelations set off an intense debate on government eavesdropping, as some viewed Snowden as a hero, and others as a traitor. House Armed Service Committee chair Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) and ranking member Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) jointly reacted to Trump’s comment, “Edward Snowden did enormous harm to our national security and he must stand trial for his actions.” They evidently confused the personal security of such liars to Congress about surveillance as James Clapper and John Brennan, or British MI6 and GCHQ officials, with what they called “our national security”.
President Trump told USA Today that he is “not that aware of the Snowden situation,” but that people on both the left and the right are divided over the former NSA contractor. “It seems to be a split decision,” the President said. “Many people think he should be somehow treated differently, and other people think he did very bad things.” Trump also raised the question of whether Snowden should be given a pardon in an interview this week with the New York Post, saying, “There are a lot of people that think he is not being treated fairly. I mean, I hear that,” The New York Post reported that Trump polled members of his staff about whether to let Snowden return to the U.S. from Russia without going to prison. Trump also commented to the Post, “Many people are on his side, I will say that. I don’t know him; never met him. But many people are on his side.”