Trump to 'take a look' at possible Snowden pardon

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

The US president will consider a possible pardon from Edward Snowden, a former US intelligence employee indicted for espionage, Donald Trump reported on Saturday (August 15th).

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“A  lot of people think he should be treated differently and other people think he did some really bad things  ,” the US president said. Donald Trump was questioned this Saturday during a press conference in New Jersey on the possibility of a pardon from Edward Snowden. "  I'm going to take a very serious look at it,  " he said.

Often considered a whistleblower, Edward Snowden is a former CIA employee and ex-contractor with the NSA intelligence agency. He has been in exile in Russia since he denounced in 2013 the massive surveillance of communications and the Internet in his country. In the United States, the former computer scientist faces criminal charges of espionage and theft of state secrets. He faces up to 30 years in prison.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump called Snowden a “  total traitor  ” and promised to “  treat him harshly  ” if elected.

ObamaCare is a disaster and Snowden is a spy who should be executed-but if it and he could reveal Obama's records, I might become a major fan

New lawsuits against Snowden

If the tenant of the White House, ready to do anything to be re-elected on November 3, decided to pardon him, it would be to the chagrin of the American intelligence services. With the latter, Donald Trump has always had a terrible relationship. This Thursday, he attacked the current director of the FBI, Christopher Wray , whom he himself appointed.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice has launched new lawsuits against Edward Snowden, alleging that his latest book of memoirs, Permanent Record , violated confidentiality agreements. According to the department, the former NSA contractor released his book without the approval of US intelligence agencies.

Grace for those close to the president

Most of the time, Donald Trump has used his power of presidential pardon for the benefit of personalities close to him.

Last month, he saved his friend and counselor Roger Stone from prison. He had been convicted of perjury before members of Congress charged with investigating Russian interference to support the billionaire's candidacy for the 2016 election.

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