Will President-elect Donald Trump pardon Edward Snowden in his second term? Several people on Trump’s team are reportedly supporting efforts to make it happen.
Trump passed over the option of granting Snowden a pardon in 2021 during his first presidency and said he would let the courts work it out.
Snowden, a former spy for the National Security Agency, is responsible for the largest leak of top-secret information about United States surveillance programs in the nation’s history. He’s been living in Moscow and avoiding an indictment from the Justice Department for more than a decade.
Matt Gaetz, who withdrew as Trump’s nominee for attorney general said the topic of pardoning Snowden is still on the table.
“I have discussed the matter with others in and around the transition and there seemed to be pretty broad support for a pardon,” Gaetz told The Washington Post.
Gaetz also noted that even though he never talked to Trump directly about Snowden, his advocacy for a pardon didn’t stop Trump from nominating him.
Trump’s director of national intelligence pick Tulsi Gabbard sponsored a 2020 house bill with Gaetz calling for the government to drop charges against Snowden.
Nominee to become Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supports a pardon of Snowden as well, campaigning on that promise while running for president.
Vice President-elect JD Vance has not taken any public positions on Snowden, but people close to him told The New York Post they expect him to be sympathetic to Snowden’s situation.
According to the attorney who represented Snowden, he released the classified information in order to expose “abuses” by the government. Snowden has not commented yet on the possibility of a renewed push for a pardon from Trump.
