President Trump is being urged to pardon Edward J. Snowden and Julian Assange by supporters of either secret-spiller who argue him doing so would be a blow against the so-called “deep state” he detests.
Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, wrote an online article published Thursday in which he argued Mr. Snowden tried to “expose” former Obama administration officials who he claimed to be part of the “deep state.”
Stella Morris, Mr. Assange’s fiancée, argued Wednesday that without a pardon her partner’s fate will rest in the “deep state” Mr. Trump has accused before of attempting to sabotage his administration.
The term “deep state” often refers to a shadow government. Mr. Trump has previously claimed it consists of “rogue bureaucrats” responsible for trying to keep his presidency from succeeding.
Should Mr. Trump grant clemency to either leaker, it would effectively clear them of conduct that proved an international embarrassment to the president’s predecessor in office, former President Barack Obama.
Mr. Snowden, a former U.S. government contractor, and Mr. Assange, the publisher of the website WikiLeaks, each face criminal charges for leaks of classified material that occurred during Mr. Obama’s term.
Joseph R. Biden, Mr. Obama’s vice president, is set to succeed Mr. Trump soon after defeating him in the recent White House race, and it is unclear if he would be willing to pardon either while in office.
In the meantime, people urging Mr. Trump to pardon Mr. Snowden and Mr. Assange before his presidency expires argue that he would be aligning himself against the “deep state” he frequently decries.
“Snowden should be pardoned. And this president, who distinguished himself as an opponent of the Deep State on issues of war and spying on Americans, should be the one to do it,” Mr. Paul wrote in part.
Ms. Morris, the mother of two children fathered by Mr. Assange, invoked the deep state while pleading for a pardon from the president the previous evening on the Fox News program “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“Julian doesn’t face a fair trial in the U.S.,” said Ms. Morris. “He will be tried in Alexandria, Virginia, where the jury pool will be composed of the people who live in Virginia, who have a preponderance of people who work for security contractors and the deep state. And essentially once he gets to the U.S., he will be in the hands of the deep state. That’s why I pleaded with the president to show the mercy that the deep state will not show Julian if he is extradited.”
Mr. Assange, 49, an Australian, has been charged in connection with WikiLeaks receiving and publishing classified U.S. military and diplomatic material provided by a former Army analyst over a decade ago.
Among the material that Mr. Assange faces charges for leaking are Department of State communications from the Obama administration and documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr. Snowden, 37, an American, admittedly leaked classified documents in 2013 exposing the U.S. National Security Agency’s vast domestic and international surveillance operations, some of which have been reformed.
Both men face charges of violations of the U.S. Espionage Act and accordingly the possibility of hefty prison sentences if convicted. Each is currently beyond the U.S. government’s reach, however.
Mr. Snowden has lived in Moscow since 2013, and his lawyer said he recently became a Russian citizen; Mr. Assange has been jailed in London for 20 months pending a request for his extradition to the U.S.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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