White House: No Snowden clemency request

[Blue_Tires]

Source: CNN

(CNN)More than a million supporters of Edward Snowden have petitioned President Barack Obama to pardon him, but the former National Security Agency contractor hasn't submitted the required documents for clemency, according to the White House.

"Mr. Snowden has not filed paperwork to seek clemency from this administration," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on Tuesday.
Snowden has remained in Russia since 2013, when he provided details of previously unknown domestic and international US surveillance programs to media outlets.

A number of high-profile human-rights groups have publicly requested Obama issue some type of clemency for Snowden, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. They've argued that doing so would help other whistleblowers come forward with perceived government wrongdoing.

The White House has said consistently that Snowden's disclosures harmed national security, and insisted that returning to the United States for trail would be a necessary precursor to any pardon.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/snowden-no-clemency-request/

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So... For all those signatures and an international team of pro-bono attorneys, evidently nobody knows how to fill out a couple of forms??

What the fuck have Snowflake's ACLU lawyers been doing all this time in D.C.?

[Gravitycollapse]

1. I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're not a fan.

[Blue_Tires]

2. LOL...

[Gravitycollapse]

3. I'm certain you would feel the same way if Manning did this under GWB or Trump.

Certain.

[LeftInTX]

5. I'm not a fan of either

I felt Manning deserved a 10 year sentence. So, if you look at the possibility of parole and time served, she has basically served 10 years. It sound like she has not been treated well in prison. Obama knows more than me and I'm sure he has factored her treatment and other situations into his decision.

[Gravitycollapse]

7. By your account, a whistle blower deserves 10 years in prison?

Sheesh. Hate to think what you'd do with your enemies.

[LeftInTX]

8. Sorry. I don't see him as a whistle blower.

[Gravitycollapse]

9. By definition, she is a whistleblower.

[LeftInTX]

11. Sorry this is my opinion. I feel our security was compromised.

Sorry for calling her him, my bad.

[Gravitycollapse]

12. The US committed documented war crimes.

War crimes we never would have known of without the actions of Manning.

I don't toe the line for security hawks.

[cstanleytech]

14. No one is arguing with you there but what you seem to be focusing on is just

the information of said crimes that Snowden revealed however Snowden released far more information than that and in fact he released detailed information on intelligence efforts in other countries which had nothing to do with a war crime.
Had he indeed limited the release though of said crimes and only said crimes (including the illegal spying on American citizens) clemency might be warranted (even though he had legal options to report it I believe to the Inspector General and or to a member of Congress) but he didnt limit the information and he seems to have just grabbed everything he could get his hands on and just released it without any consideration.

[msanthrope]

20. Um, no...she isn't a whistle-blower by definition, hence her prosecution. nt

[cstanleytech]

21. Agreed, a whistleblower reports about a specific issue and anything beyond

that blows any whistleblower defense out of the water.

[Gravitycollapse]

22. Because we all know that you cannot be convicted of a crime falsely.

[brooklynite]

28. You can't be convicted falsely if you publicly confess...

[Gravitycollapse]

34. There are things called forced or coerced confessions.

[dionysus]

35. Now you're being absurd.

[Gravitycollapse]

40. Not at all. If you're facing potentially harsh sentencing it is beneficial to cooperate.

Even if the cooperation involves confessing to things you never did. This happens all the time in our justice system.

[msanthrope]

30. She allocuted. nt

[Adrahil]

37. Being a "whistle blower"...

does not give one carte-blanche to steal thousands and thousands of classified documents, most of them having NOTHING TO DO with any sort of illegal activity, and dumping them off to an external entity run by foreign national. That's a crime, and yes, it deserved a prison sentence. But she served a reasonable sentence and I support the commutation.

[Blue_Tires]

31. You don't know what's in my head or my heart, chief

so any speculation would be optimistic to the point of foolishness

Of course you can glance at my 46,000 post history here and get a somewhat accurate profile of my mindset, but why do that when you can just blindly assume whatever you want?

[cstanleytech]

4. My problem with Snowden isnt that he revealed the illegal spying on Americans but rather

that he provided information illegally about other intelligence efforts the US was working on in other countries.
If he had actually limited it to the illegal stuff and "only" that I could honestly see a pardon for that but he didnt.

[LeftInTX]

6. Bingo +++++++++++++++++++++

[Hortensis]

15. Yes. Another issue is that Snowden fled and

ended up sheltered by Russia, instead of being tried and sentenced through our criminal justice system like Manning.

Someone else who apparently never applied for a (preemptive) pardon is Hillary Clinton. I worry about her and wonder what her plans are if Trump and a Sessions Justice Department with Comey FBI come after her. Aside from nuking some unfortunate nation, I can't think of a more effective way to distract unhappy trumpsters than persecuting her.

These are a high school principal and secretary in Virginia at Halloween. Kids told their parents...

[cstanleytech]

16. Fleeing I might be willing to overlook but not the wrecklessness he showed with how he

handled the information he took.

[Hortensis]

17. Oh, absolutely. We have no idea who died and/or who

is in some miserable prison now as a result, though Obama would. But this is a real and basic issue also.

[cstanleytech]

33. I'm not to worried about her to be honest as if there was anything truly illegal found that

warranted charges the Republicans would have made certain that those charges would have been filed months ago to take her out but since charges were not filed the best they could do was use it to create uncertainty about her with the voters.

[Adrahil]

38. Absolutely correct. Thanks! NT

[stonecutter357]

10. Snowden is KGB all the way! he does not want clemency his home.

[Cha]

13. Yeah, I don't see him as a "whistleblower" and I doubt

President Obama does either.

Thank you, Blue Tires

[nikto]

18. I thought the name, "Snowflake", was an alt-right term

Kind of interesting turn-around.

[leftynyc]

24. When someone is using

a word that is supposed to be an insult, just embrace it and overuse it, it takes the weapon away.

[jmowreader]

19. I think Putin will send Snowden back to the US for trial and hanging

Trump needs a quick head on a platter to prove how tough he is, and Snowden is an easy one since he DID take off with a shitload of Special Intelligence.

[joshcryer]

36. Unfortunately, this is very likely to happen.

Trump has stated that Snowden should be executed.

[jmowreader]

39. IIRC he also wants Bowe Bergdahl executed

Trump probably has a whole list of people he wants to have shot.

[Lil Missy]

23. Snowshit doesn't deserve clemency. n/t

[Tortmaster]

25. Mind blown!

You mean Snowden failed to follow the proper procedure? He didn't follow protocol?

Now he gets to watch Chelsea Manning go home, and Julian Assange, if he keeps his promise to turn himself over to the US authorities if President Obama pardoned Manning, will be in a cell.

President Obama worked out the coolest prisoner exchange in history! Chelsea for Julian.

[still_one]

26. what Snowden did was far worse than Manning. In addition, the Manning situation also had

an element of compassion involved since she tried to commit suicide several times.

Last point, Manning already served time

[Sunlei]

27. Yes, much worse. Snowden 'somehow' got the 'jobs' at the few facilities with access to 3rd? tier

secret information and he stole all those files. Hundreds of people were compromised in countries like Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Russia, Europe and plenty of other countries.

[cstanleytech]

32. I'm not sure if its worse as both were extremely callous in their handling of the information the

illegally stole and then later released.

[HoneyBadger]

29. is there a public list of everyone that requested clemency

is clemency both pardon and commutation?