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Bedminster, US:
President Donald Trump stated Saturday he’ll “take a look” at pardoning Edward Snowden, the previous US intelligence contractor who revealed in 2013 that the US authorities was spying on its residents.
Snowden, who has been residing in exile in Russia because the revelations, has stated he want to return to the United States — however solely on the situation that he obtain a good trial.
Trump was requested throughout a press convention at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf membership if he was contemplating pardoning the previous contractor.
He replied that he was “not that aware” of Snowden’s scenario — however that he plans to look into it, calling the controversy a “split decision.”
“Many people think that he should be somehow treated differently and other people think he did very bad things,” the president stated, including: “I’m going to take a look at that very strongly.”
It was a shift from the 2016 presidential marketing campaign, when Trump stated of Snowden, “I think he’s a total traitor and I would deal with him harshly.”
Snowden was praised as a whistleblower and privateness advocate by his defenders after he leaked info exhibiting that brokers from the National Security Agency (NSA) had been finishing up widespread surveillance on residents.
But the United States accuses him of endangering nationwide safety. A conviction on espionage prices may ship him to jail for many years.
A push to have him pardoned by Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, in the end failed.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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