Trump says he is considering pardon for leaker Edward Snowden
"Except in times of war any individual or employee or government who withholds secrets from friends, employees or citizens has effectively declared war on them. Despite all the spurious reasons given by individuals, employers and governments for having secrets it reduces to the zero-sum winning and losing game scenario wherein the individual, employer or government are afraid to lose or hope to make someone else lose." Arnold Arnold - Winners And Other Losers In War And Peace.
The notion that governments NOT keep secrets is, to me, new/odd/unrealistic.
No. Another Putin play. All charges should be dropped against him and he should be allowed to return home and resume his life. No pardon required, especially from a criminal president doing Putin's bidding.
In his shoes, would you really return if only all charges were dropped ?
@FearlessFly yeah, good point. You can't trust Trump, and Snowden couldn't trust Biden and co as they have waged a campaign against him, the fools and dupes of the US Establishment. By the same token, a pardon wouldn't necessarily protect him either, especially if Biden wins. Both US parties are instruments of the US power structure, and Snowden revealed their lies and they likely will not forgive him. It may be many years before he wins the history. Not much comfort to him now, though.
Serious question - has he actually been convicted of anything yet?
However in general it seems like a case where "the ends justify the means" but the means are still technically illegal, is a perfect situation where a pardon can be used to right a wrong. I mean the phrase "his actions were pardonable" fits perfectly doesn't it? Sadly we pretty much squandered the opportunity for change for good after the many 2010s leaks. The fix is still in and endemic corruption, illegal surveillance, tax evasion, and many other things are still going on at a break-neck pace last I checked. And that's just the stuff we know about...
Meanwhile Trump pardons anyone who did him a favor no matter how provably guilty they are of acting purely to preserve a private interest - Trump. I very seriously doubt he will actually pardon Snowden. But if eventually someone else does you can bet he'll try to take credit for it. And if he is never pardoned Trump will also take credit for that. He always likes to cheat and play both sides.
I did a bit of researching (Googling!) and apparently there are only unsealed charges against him. No trial was ever held - and as best I can tell in the US people cannot be tried and convicted in their absence unless they are voluntarily absent, or are removed from the trial for being disruptive. I'm not sure if just refusing to show up means you are "voluntarily" being present, and can you volunteer to be absent without actually showing up in person to tell the court that is your wish? What if they wrote you a letter and you never got it - would they say you volunteered to not show up? I hope not.
So it seems pretty sketchy to pardon someone for something they haven't even been convicted of (which Trump has threatened to do for himself and others). Doesn't that in itself kind of smear the person's reputation? What if Trump said he pardoned Obama of Treason? Or Hillary of running a human trafficking ring? It makes it sound like they were actually guilty or at least convicted in the first place.
Yes because whistle blowing and the uncovering of war crimes is heroic, not treasonous.
Trump will never grant him one though and if he does, Snowden would be a fool to accept.