"I'm going to start looking at it," Trump told reporters about a possible pardon, speaking at a news conference at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club.Trump said he thinks Americans on both the political left and the right are divided on Snowden."It seems to be a split decision," Trump told reporters. "Many people think he should be somehow treated differently. And other people think he did very bad things."Some civil libertarians have praised Snowden for revealing the extraordinary scope of America's digital espionage operations including domestic spying programs that senior US officials had publicly insisted did not exist.But such a move would horrify many in the US intelligence community, some of whose most important secrets were exposed. Trump has harshly criticized past leaders of the US intelligence community and FBI, and on Thursday took aim at the bureau's current director Christopher Wray, his own appointee.The US Justice Department filed a lawsuit last September against Snowden, arguing that his recently published memoir, "Permanent Record," violated non-disclosure agreements.The Justice Department said Snowden published the book without submitting it to intelligence agencies for review, adding that speeches given by Snowden also violated nondisclosure agreements.Trump's use of his executive clemency powers including pardons often has benefited allies and well-connected political figures.He last month commuted the sentence of his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone, sparing him from prison after he was convicted of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US election to boost Trump's candidacy.ObamaCare is a disaster and Snowden is a spy who should be executed-but if it and he could reveal Obama's records,I might become a major fan
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2013
Trump says he is considering pardon for leaker Edward Snowden
US authorities for years have wanted Snowden returned to the United States to face a criminal trial on espionage charges brought in 2013.
