In 2015, a similar pardon campaign gathered more than 160,000 signatures but a poll the same year from the American Civil Liberties Union, which is backing the new campaign, found that almost two-thirds of Americans viewed him negatively.
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Overall, the report paints Snowden in a negative light, somewhat to counteract the boost of public image he’ll be receiving following Oliver Stone’s new movie.
Peter Gabriel has released a video for his track The Veil.
It’s not the first campaign organized in support of the 33-year-old, who is a hero to some and a traitor to others.
Officials gave no sign they were listening this week, however.
This report comes more than a year after Congress reined in the Intelligence Agency in response to Snowden’s revelations.
The report alleges that Snowden had little concern for privacy safeguards while working in government, saying he failed to raise his concerns about civil liberties to superiors or to pass NSA-mandated training on United States laws that regulate foreign intelligence collection.
Snowden dismissed the report on Twitter.
Snowden, who has been at an undisclosed location in Russian Federation for the past three years, took umbrage at perceived attacks on his personal integrity, such as the assertion that he “claimed to have left Army basic training because of broken legs when in fact he washed out because of shin splints”. “This report diminishes the committee”.
In a September 14 press briefing, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest nixed the idea of pardoning Snowden. The Russian government has rejected US requests to extradite him to the United States to face trial. Furthermore, “his conduct put American lives at risk” and endangered national security. “I look forward to his eventual return to the United States, where he will face justice for his damaging crimes”, he added.
With his mandate running out in months, Obama would also face judicial obstacles if he meant to pardon Snowden, as according to USA law, the president can only pardon a person after he is convicted of a crime by a court.
Although the majority of previous presidential pardons have gone to those convicted in court, some have benefited those only under threat of prosecution – including former president Richard Nixon.
Ben Wizner is with the American Civil Liberties Union. In truth, he was on his way to Hong Kong with his trove of stolen documents. Furthermore, people are still asking “What did Edward Snowden warn us about?” “What was their harm?”
“Snowden himself has said this very clearly – this is not just a debate about now”. “The law does not distinguish between those who give free sensitive information to journalists and spies who sell it to foreign powers”. There have been campaigns for his pardon, which have yet to be successful.
WELNA: Do you plan to see the movie? She said a pardon for Snowden would be an important step in the movement to limit secret government surveillance all over the world.
A pardon by Obama before the election would most certainly strike his fellow Democrat Clinton a blow by prompting Republican accusations of weakness.
Snowden supporters argue that a pardon would provide Obama an excellent way to acknowledge the problems of America’s sprawling intelligence operations as well as Snowden’s role defending American democratic rights.
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In its efforts to create a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end, Snowden feels like it takes the easy way around some of the more complicated issues involved in its subject’s actions, and occasionally glosses over some of those issues entirely.
