© David Butow; REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/Files
President Trump polled his aides on Thursday about whether he should let anti-surveillance
whistleblower and leaker Edward Snowden return to the US from Russia without going to prison, saying he was open to it.
"There are a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly. I mean, I hear that," Trump told
The Post in an exclusive interview in the Oval Office, before soliciting views from his staff.
Trump commented on Snowden for the first time as president after accusing former President Barack Obama of spying on his 2016 campaign.
"When you look at [former FBI Director James] Comey and [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe, and [former CIA Director John] Brennan โ and, excuse me, the man that sat at this desk, President Obama, got caught spying on my campaign with Biden. Biden and Obama, and they got caught spying on the campaign," Trump said.
Trump's comments reflect a remarkable softening in his views about the man he once deemed a "traitor" worthy of execution. Republican lawmakers and the Justice Department's inspector general recently highlighted misuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the secret FISA court to surveil former Trump adviser Carter Page.
"Snowden is one of the people they talk about. They talk about numerous people, but he is certainly one of the people that they do talk about," Trump said on Thursday, before turning to his aides.
"I guess the DOJ is looking to extradite him right now? ... It's certainly something I could look at. Many people are on his side, I will say that. I don't know him, never met him. But many people are on his side."The president then asked his staff: "How do you feel about that, Snowden? Haven't heard the name in a long time."
After polling the room, Trump added: "I've heard it both ways. From traitor to he's being, you know, persecuted. I've heard it both ways."Snowden's legal team has tried in vain to negotiate a prison-free return to the US for the former National Security Agency contractor, who exposed the fact that the FISA court was secretly approving the dragnet collection of domestic call records.
Before taking office, Trump tweeted at least 45 times denouncing Snowden as a traitor and calling for his execution.
In a 2013 tweet,
Trump wrote: "Snowden is a spy who should be executed-but if it and he could reveal Obama's records, I might become a major fan."
Reader Comments
IMO, Assange deserves something like the Nobel Peace Prize (although that hasn't been credible for many years) and Snowden deserves at least something like the American Medal of Freedom (which also has lost a lot of credibility).
So which is it, Trump supporters? Time to make your decision! Is Trump the savior of all that is (putatively) holy about American politics, or not? If your answer is still 'yes', then get on board the election clown car - here we go again! If your answer is 'no', it's time for some serious civil disobedience, wouldn't you say?
Trump acts like a typical old-style politician in that he says the right things (most of the time) but he always finds a way to not deliver on his promises, or at best, only delivers on them in a watered-down, half-assed manner that is more symbolic than effective.
He has no intention of actually "draining the swamp", but only replacing some of the long-time denizens thereof with creatures more to his liking. Contrary to his pre-election boasting, he seems to be a piss-poor judge of people, as he has allowed himself to be influenced by some of the most idiotic, corrupt, and/or incompetent advisors DC has seen in many years. He actively works for Israel's interests, even to the detriment of those of the US, more effectively than those politicians who are bought-and-paid-for by AIPAC and related orgs - however, he has some level of integrity in that his motivation seems to be based on actual belief rather than political bribery like the others. He fully supports the nation's corrupt economic model of the big business-big gov't cabal, but again, more on the basis of personal belief and misunderstanding than political bribery. Given his incessant idiotic tweeting, he frequently seems to have the intellect and self-control of a teen-ager living in his mom's basement.
Nevertheless, in spite of his many, many shortcomings, I find Trump to be orders of magnitude more preferable than the available alternatives, both in the last election and in the one upcoming. He, at least, has not fully succumbed to the sheer idiocy of the lib/prog/SJW/post-modern/marxist ideology that has swept up his opposition. I like very much that he pisses off all the right people.
Civil (or un-civil) disobedience against Trump would be highly counter-productive at this time, as it would empower the crazies of the left even more. Trump has at the very least slowed-down our nation's headlong rush to hell in a hand basket that his opposition is actively pursuing. Our current situation is somewhat equivalent to where we found ourselves during WWII - as despicable as Joe Stalin was, we allied with him because many felt that he was much better than the only other available alternative. Opposing Joe while also opposing Adolf at the same time would likely have had catastrophic consequences.
Civil disobedience is not against Trump. If it happens (and if it doesn't, things aren't getting better from here), it will be against an anti-human way of life which is working to make money and power the inescapable dual bottom line for every social, creative, and intellectual activity on the planet. Trump is NOTHING. Biden is NOTHING. They're puppets. Get over this political circus, lift up your head, and look around! What you see will be very frightening if you care at all for the future of humanity.