Trump Says he is Considering Pardon for Leaker Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden speaks via video link during a news conference in New York City, US September 14, 2016. (Reuters)
Edward Snowden speaks via video link during a news conference in New York City, US September 14, 2016. (Reuters)
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Trump Says he is Considering Pardon for Leaker Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden speaks via video link during a news conference in New York City, US September 14, 2016. (Reuters)
Edward Snowden speaks via video link during a news conference in New York City, US September 14, 2016. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he is 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 here Trump gave to the New York Post this week 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.

“I’m going to start looking at it,” Trump told reporters about a possible pardon, speaking at a news conference at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club.

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 organizations that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the NSA.

Snowden’s Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told RIA news agency the United States should not simply pardon him, but should drop all possible prosecutions against Snowden as he had not committed any crimes.

“He was acting not only in the interest of the American citizens, but in the interest of all the humankind,” Kucherena said.

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.”

Trump said on Saturday he thinks Americans on both the political left and the right are divided on Snowden.

“It seems to be a split decision,” Trump told reporters. “Many people think he should be somehow treated differently. And other people think he did very bad things.”

Domestic spying
Some civil libertarians have praised Snowden for revealing the extraordinary scope of America’s digital espionage operations including domestic spying programs that senior US officials had publicly insisted did not exist.

But such a move would horrify many in the US intelligence community, some of whose most important secrets were exposed. Trump has harshly criticized past leaders of the US intelligence community and FBI, and on Thursday took aim at the bureau’s current director Christopher Wray, his own appointee.

The US Justice Department filed a lawsuit last September against Snowden, arguing that the memoir he published last year, “Permanent Record,” violated non-disclosure agreements.

The Justice Department said Snowden published the book without submitting it to intelligence agencies for review, adding that speeches given by Snowden also violated nondisclosure agreements.

Trump’s use of his executive clemency powers including pardons has often benefited allies and well-connected political figures.

Last month he commuted the sentence of his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone, sparing him from prison after he was convicted of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US election to boost Trump’s candidacy.



Russia Slams Report it Backed 'Zero Enrichment' Iran Nuclear Deal

A handout photo made available by the Iranian foreign ministry office shows, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi (R) speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors and diplomats to Tehran, in Tehran, Iran, 12 July 2025. EPA/HAMID FOROOTAN / IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the Iranian foreign ministry office shows, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi (R) speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors and diplomats to Tehran, in Tehran, Iran, 12 July 2025. EPA/HAMID FOROOTAN / IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / HANDOUT
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Russia Slams Report it Backed 'Zero Enrichment' Iran Nuclear Deal

A handout photo made available by the Iranian foreign ministry office shows, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi (R) speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors and diplomats to Tehran, in Tehran, Iran, 12 July 2025. EPA/HAMID FOROOTAN / IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the Iranian foreign ministry office shows, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi (R) speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors and diplomats to Tehran, in Tehran, Iran, 12 July 2025. EPA/HAMID FOROOTAN / IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / HANDOUT

Russia's foreign affairs ministry on Sunday described reports claiming that President Vladimir Putin had encouraged his Iranian ally to accept a "zero enrichment" agreement on its nuclear programme as "defamation".

US news outlet Axios reported on Saturday, citing three anonymous sources familiar with the matter, that Putin had "encouraged" Iran to accept a deal with the United States that would prevent the Islamic republic from enriching uranium.

The article "appears to be a new political defamation campaign aimed at exacerbating tensions around Iran's nuclear program", the Russian ministry of foreign affairs said on Sunday.

"Invariably and repeatedly, we have emphasised the necessity of resolving the crisis concerning Iran's nuclear program exclusively through political and diplomatic means, and expressed our willingness to help find mutually acceptable solutions," the statement read.

Publicly, Moscow has defended Tehran's right to use nuclear technology for civilian purposes but in recent months, Putin has also drawn closer to US President Donald Trump.

On June 13, Israel launched an unprecedented attack on Iran, triggering a 12-day war.

The conflict halted negotiations initiated in April between Tehran and Washington to frame Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions against Iran.

On June 22, the United States bombed the underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo, south of Tehran, and nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz.

The exact extent of the damage is not known.