Donald Trump is preparing to re-enter the White House.
Trump is facing a list of demands that is a mile long.
And Tulsi Gabbard begged Donald Trump to make a daring move that could change everything.
A pardon for Edward Snowden
Donald Trump knows better than anyone what it’s like to be a victim of the awesome power of the Deep State’s illegal warrantless spying programs.
Trump admitted in 2021 that he backed down from a plan to pardon whistleblower Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
“I decided to let that one ride, let the courts work it out,” Trump said of their possible pardons. “I was very close to going the other way.”
Trump reportedly didn’t sign off on the pardons for Snowden and Assange after Republicans threatened to convict him in the January 6 impeachment hoax if he pressed ahead with clemency for the two transparency activists.
In 2013, Snowden exposed the biggest illegal mass surveillance program in American history.
Snowden leaked to journalist Glenn Greenwald that the Obama administration was snooping on all Americans every phone call, email, and text message.
“Even if you’re not doing anything wrong, you’re being watched and recorded. And the storage capability of these systems increases every year, consistently, by orders of magnitude,” Snowden previously described the government’s spy capabilities.
At the time, Snowden was living in Hong Kong and attempted to travel to Ecuador.
But the Obama administration revoked his passport while he was stopped over in Russia, forcing him to remain in the country.
The Obama administration then claimed, despite the fact that it stranded Snowden in Russia, that Snowden was a Russian spy.
Snowden has lived in Russia with his wife and children ever since.
A pardon would allow Snowden to return to America without fear of prosecution.
Trump allies advocate for a pardon
Matt Gaetz told The Washington Post that when Trump nominated him to serve as Attorney General, Trump knew he supported a pardon for Snowden, and Trump didn’t consider it a deal-breaker.
“I advocated for a pardon for Mr. Snowden extensively. That did not give Mr. Trump any apprehension in his nominating me. I would have recommended that as attorney general,” Gaetz said in an interview with The Post. “I have discussed the matter with others in and around the transition, and there seemed to be pretty broad support for a pardon.”
Other Trump cabinet nominees, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, also campaigned for pardoning Edward Snowden.
“Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary pick, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., campaigned for President on the promise of a ‘day one’ pardon of Snowden and building a Washington monument in his honor. Director of National Intelligence pick Tulsi Gabbard sponsored a 2020 House resolution with Gaetz calling for the government to drop charges against Snowden,” The Post also reported.
Donald Trump Jr. also supports a pardon for Snowden, saying Snowden and Assange did the right thing in exposing the government’s shredding of the Constitution.
“My views have changed. I think 100 percent you have to let them go,” Trump Jr. said during a May podcast. “You need those kind of things to keep us in check. It would be different if I thought we were functioning as good actors, but we’re not.”
Tucker Carlson went further, saying, “When Snowden can come back to this country to the ticker tape parade he deserves, then we’ll know we live in a free country.”
