Trump considers pardon for Edward Snowden, after once calling for his execution
- Former US intelligence contractor has lived in exile in Russia since 2013
- Trump’s softening stance toward Snowden represents a sharp reversal
US President Donald Trump said he was considering a pardon for Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency contractor – now living in Russia – whose spectacular leaks shook the US intelligence community in 2013.
The Republican president’s comments followed an interview Trump gave to The New York Post in which he said of Snowden that “there are a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly” by US law enforcement.
US authorities for years have wanted Snowden returned to the United States to face a criminal trial on espionage charges brought in 2013.
Snowden fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after he leaked a trove of secret files in 2013 to news organisations that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the NSA.
Trump’s softening stance toward Snowden represents a sharp reversal. Shortly after the leaks, Trump expressed hostility toward Snowden, calling him “a spy who should be executed”.
“I’m going to start looking at it,” Trump told reporters about a possible pardon, speaking at a news conference on Saturday at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club.
Trump said he thinks Americans on both the political left and the right are divided on Snowden.
