There were a few nuanced differences between how the various candidates on stage approached Snowden when asked about him, but every one of them – with the exception of Lincoln Chafee, the low-polling former governor of Rhode Island – said the former NSA contractor needs to be prosecuted.
Advertisement
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders straddled the middle, saying that Snowden did expose spying, but that a few sort of punishment should be implemented, if Snowden is brought home.
The cybersecurity issue most expected during Tuesday night’s debate turned out to be the most short-lived when Sanders told Clinton and Cooper he was exhausted of the investigation surrounding her use of a private email server at the state department taking the focus off important issues, like the shrinking middle class and Wall Street reform.
But Clinton went on to say that Snowden “stole very important information that has, unfortunately, fallen into a lot of the wrong hands …”
Flounders also said all the candidates have the same policy toward American whistleblower Edward Snowden and consider him a criminal.
“Snowden put a lot of Americans’ lives at risk”.
Another candidate, former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley agreed with Clinton and questioned Snowden’s status as a legitimate whistleblower because Snowden sought refuge in Russian Federation. He now works at an Apple store outside of Washington, D.C. Admittedly, the law is fairly complicated, but as Politifact pointed out in January 2014, when the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald said that Snowden did not have any whistleblower protections under the Espionage Act, his claim was “mostly true”.
“Snowden broke the law, recklessly endangered nat’l security, & fled to China/Russia”, Bush tweeted. However, he then noted, “I think there should be a penalty to that”. So I would bring him home. He would still like Snowden to face trial, but believes the sentencing should reflect the good that came out of blowing the whistle, as well as the bad. But I think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration before he is [inaudible]. “The courts have ruled that the American government was acting illegally”.
I – well, I – I would leave his ultimate judgment to the legal system. We have a serious problem in terms of the collection of personal information in this country.
Advertisement
It’s been more than two years since the National Surveillance Agency’s vast and secret surveillance network was ultimately brought to light for the first time.
