Senator Rand Paul talked to Trump about Snowden’s pardon, as did Representative Matt Gaetz, both lawmakers who were heard by Trump. The recently forgiven Roger Stone, a longtime Trump adviser, also made a public appeal for Snowden’s clemency.
Their argument: Snowden was unjustly persecuted after revealing the falsehood of people like James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence. It is an argument that may please Trump, who also sees himself as a victim of American intelligence services and despises Clapper.
“He revealed that James Clapper, the most powerful and most senior spy in the world, was spying on Americans and he lied to us about it,” said Paul in an interview. “So I think what Snowden did was a service to the American people and he should be forgiven.”
But while the libertarian wing of the Republican Party is pushing for Snowden’s pardon – alongside some scattered Democrats and high-level human rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union – more traditional Republicans are opposed. For them, Snowden is a traitor – period. He broke the law by leaking confidential information and caused irreparable damage to the country’s spying capacity.
“I think he is a traitor worthy of a federal prison,” said Senate Intelligence Committee President Marco Rubio (R-Florida) bluntly.
But the Republican members of Congress who spoke to the president recently see him as increasingly malleable in his last days in office, especially as he works to win over legislators in his attempt to challenge the final certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Congress on January 6. The result could be a milder Trump when responding to last-minute requests for forgiveness.
It is a pattern that has been occurring in recent days, when Trump issued two rounds of pardons and prenatal commutations, including for three former members of Congress, several people condemned in Robert Mueller’s investigation into the interference in the 2016 elections in Russia and four security contractors convicted of the 2008 Iraqi civilian massacre.
Many of the 49 acts of clemency originated with pleas from Trump’s friends and allies. Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who helped defend him in his impeachment trial in 2020, made some suggestions, as did Christopher Ruddy, CEO of the pro-Trump media vehicle Newsmax.
Other pardons were supported by Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union, whose wife worked for Trump in the White House and his unsuccessful re-election campaign, and former lawyer and lobbyist David Safavian, who was pardoned by Trump in February for his role in obstructing a federal investigation.
Paul himself pushed for four of the pardons, including Jesse Benton, a relative of the senator by marriage who was convicted of campaign finance violations.
And more lots of pardons are expected, according to two Republicans close to the White House.
Trump can give preventive pardons to up to 20 close people and family members, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, none of whom have been charged with a crime. Steve Bannon, a former campaign advisor and the White House accused of defrauding investors in a scheme to independently build a wall on the southern border, was also discussed.
But he could easily expand the circle to include any number of names suggested by those around him. And Snowden is increasingly mentioned.
After being pardoned on Wednesday, Stone, who was convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation and intimidation of witnesses, asked Trump to provide Snowden with “total and unconditional forgiveness”.
“The injustice done to me does not exist alone,” he wrote in a statement. “Other good Americans have fallen victim to a corrupt system designed to serve venal power seekers, rewarding deception and manipulation, rather than reason and justice. President Trump may be the ombudsman for the vile machinations of wicked suitors for the mantle of public service. “
Some Trump allies say Snowden’s openings for forgiveness may work because the president generally ignores the long multilevel clemency process that has been conducted at the Justice Department for a century instead of making decisions in consultation with a handful of advisors.
“Why would I do DOJ?” said one of the Republicans, who is pushing for forgiveness for someone else. “The Constitution says that it is the President who has authority.”
The constitution gives the president the power to “grant extensions and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment”. This usually occurs in the form of commutation – which reduces or eliminates the penalty, but does not eliminate the sentence – or of total pardon, which rules out all the legal consequences of a crime.
The White House did not answer questions about Snowden.
Many of Trump’s pardons went to individuals who made headlines: 19th century suffragette Susan B. Anthony, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, George W. Bush’s adviser, Scooter Libby and Charles Kushner, his father son in law.
Snowden, 37, would certainly fall into that category. Currently living in Russia, Snowden faces charges of espionage and theft of government property for revealing confidential NSA information, including details of secret spy programs that have collected Internet activity and telephone records.
The Obama administration accused Snowden of undermining national security. But Snowden defended the pardon on Twitter, saying it did not cause the death of any American and highlighting lawmakers who support the idea.
But a former senior government official said he doubted Snowden’s pressure would work, given the high percentage of Republicans who defend his accusation.
“In general, most Republicans would agree that he is a traitor,” said the person.
Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, both Trump’s allies, are opposed to forgiveness.
“Snowden has done enormous damage to the United States and I can’t imagine any reason to forgive him,” said Gingrich.
But Gaetz, a Florida Republican and Trump ally who filed a resolution calling on the federal government to drop all charges against Snowden, said in a brief phone call that he hopes Trump will forgive Snowden.
And on Twitter, he claimed “Trump is listening to many of us who encourage him” to forgive Snowden.
Trump’s stance is less obvious.
Trump once called Snowden a “traitor” and a “spy who should be executed”. But more recently, he expressed a willingness to consider a pardon. In August, Trump said he was considering offering Snowden clemency, regretting that “many people” believe the former NSA contractor “is not being treated fairly.”
But since Trump expressed openness to forgive Snowden, several members of Congress who once stood with Trump are refusing the idea of a pardon.
“He is responsible for the largest and most damaging leak of classified information in the history of the United States,” said Liz Cheney, President of the Republican Party Conference (R-Wyo.). “He gave secrets to our opponents, the Chinese, the Russians. It would be simply unscrupulous to forgive him. “
Cheney has been a major political enemy of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party that Paul and Gaetz represent, drawing criticism for months as she broke with the president on several issues.
Even the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., went after her publicly, comparing her to Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who does not support the president and voted to remove him from office in the Senate impeachment trial earlier this year. More recently, Trump himself criticized Cheney on Twitter.
Notably, few Democrats supported pressure for Snowden’s forgiveness. Leading Democrats have been pushing for reforms to the federal government’s surveillance powers in the wake of Snowden’s actions, but are hesitant to publicly support the erasure of federal charges against Snowden.
Instead, Democrats are focusing their anger on the process that Trump used to issue his pardons and sentence commutations. Democrats say that while the authority for presidential pardon is absolute, Trump abused the process to reward his allies and associates and bypassed the traditional Justice Department protocols to issue them.
“I think there needs to be a process of forgiveness. It should not be an instinctive political response. It must be based on considerations ranging from the seriousness of the crime, as well as humanitarian issues, ”said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), One of the main members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “And I don’t believe he is making any of his forgiveness considerations that way. I think the process he’s using is just wrong. “
Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.