I believe Edward Snowden and Julian Assange should be pardoned

After clearing them of alleged crimes. The Donald should say

This is not to suggest, that in similar circumstances, A person who engaged in these activities would face no consequences. *Mic drop*

The should be declared the patron saints of hacking!

Look at this beautiful video

a reply to: omniEther

Trump isn't a fan of Snowden at all, he made it clear during his campaign run. Though given how unpredictable Trump can be, I cannot say for certain what he'll do with Snowden and Assange in the end. I'm pretty sure Assange will be reaching out to Trump so we'll have to see the response.

"Jillian" Assange?

Did he take one out of Michael Obamas play book?

I won't go that far.

But I will say I think we own Assange a debt of gratitude for helping Clinton lose her presidential bid.

So Thanks JA.

Snowden was in a situation where there was no channel for whistleblowing. Look what happened at the SD, people were told to shutup about her emails and never speak of it again. That was the Democratic climate in all of those agencies. Keep your mouth shut. Clapper also lied to Congress and nothing was done. He should be pardoned. Maybe he will...

originally posted by: omniEther
After clearing them of alleged crimes. The Donald should say

This is not to suggest, that in similar circumstances, A person who engaged in these activities would face no consequences. *Mic drop*

Well Assange published material he was sent, Snowden was a whistleblower.
I think I am right in saying that a pardon applies to someone who has been convicted, or convicted in absentia, neither have been convicted as far as I know. Even so the pardon only commutes any sentence, the charge would still stand, but there is some other gobbledygook process that can be done after a pardon to clear the charges as well.

And what about Chelsea Manning?

a reply to: Xcalibur254

#FreeSterling #FreeSnowden #FreeManning #FreeHammond #FreeAssange

Officially, the United States doesn't want Assange for anything, so there's nothing to pardon. (What they've been doing to him unofficially is another matter entirely.)

a reply to: smurfy

A pardon also applies to crimes not convicted of.

What Wikileaks does is called journalism. The Washington Post even got the Pulitzer prize for publishing the Wikileaks material (shouldn't it have gone to Wikileaks itself?).

Assange is stuck living in an embassy because of what looks like a set-up and take down of the sort that intelligence organizations do, whether it was CIA, MI6, or whoever. He doesn't need a pardon if his accuser decides she no longer wants to testify/press charges/etc, and she was probably some kind of agent or another to begin with. So a decision from higher up could certainly make his life easier.

Snowden is trickier. Secrecy is important, but his actions were highly political rather than simply contemptuous of responsibility as Hillary was. On the one hand, there is plenty of precedent for pardoning/amnestying people for political crimes. On the other hand, simply letting him walk around free etc is probably too much for the intelligence professionals to stomach.

Perhaps there is some middle ground, like assuring him safe treatment, and having him do a reasonable amount of time in a Club Fed with access to a computer for conferences etc. So that way if he is willing to do some time he gets to come home. But I guess that wouldn't be enough for some people so he will probably live out his life in Russia.

a reply to: omniEther

I believe Assange's email leaks played one of the biggest roles in bringing down Clinton's campaign. I would even go so far as to argue that if it wasn't for the Wikileaks Clinton would have likely won. I suggest ATS set up a petition to sign for both Assange and Snowden.

If I knew how to set up an official online petition I would do it. If anyone knows where there is one already in existence please let me know.

A big thank you to Mr. Assange and Mr. Snowden.

They both deserve medals and thanks of gratitude! Heroes

Nope.

If they're as saintly as everyone says, or many of you anyway, it falls under the Whistleblower protection laws.

No pardon necessary. Face your day in court. Personally, I'd get just a bit tired of living in an embassy...

originally posted by: 11andrew34
Snowden is trickier. Secrecy is important, but his actions were highly political rather than simply contemptuous of responsibility as Hillary was. On the one hand, there is plenty of precedent for pardoning/amnestying people for political crimes. On the other hand, simply letting him walk around free etc is probably too much for the intelligence professionals to stomach.

Bradley/Chelsea Manning is similarly tricky. There are good arguments that the public needed to know that the US military was covering up civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the military would go ape if Trump pardons her.

a reply to: omniEther

Thats an excellent point in that, IMO, how Trump deals with these two people will tell us all a lot about if whether he is simply Hillary II or whether he represents fundamental change.

originally posted by: omniEther
a reply to: smurfy

A pardon also applies to crimes not convicted of.

Not in the UK anymore, even a pardon itself is unlikely, the law pursuits different avenues for an outcome.

However, the royal prerogative still exists.