Snowden Responds to POTUS' 'Pardon' Comment, Urges to End 'War on Whistleblowers'

Edward Snowden is accused of espionage and leaking secret National Security Agency documents, exposing to the world a domestic surveillance program in the United States that collected telephone and Internet data from citizens.

A former US National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, revealed in an MSNBC interview on Friday that the White House has not contacted him or his representatives, after Trump vowed to "take a very good look at it" when talking about a possible pardon.

Snowden outlined that he has never sought a pardon from the United States.

"I was surprised as anybody else to see this", Snowden told MSNBC in a remote interview from Moscow. "By hook or by crook, there’s been nothing. No contact [from the White House regarding a pardon], anything like that".

He said that he will, however, ask for a pardon for others charged under the Espionage Act, implying that everyone "knows" that being charged under the act indicates that a fair trial is unlikely.

"And there are people in the United States, today, serving time in prison for doing the right thing", he noted. "This is why we should see Donald Trump, or any other president, end the war on whistleblowers. He should pardon Reality Winner for trying to expose election interference, he should pardon Daniel Hale for revealing abuses in the drone program, or Terry Albury for trying to expose systematic racism within the FBI. And these are all people who are deserving a pardon".

Snowden commented on Trump's recent remark that suggested that he would consider a pardon.

"There are many, many people - it seems to be a split decision that many people think that he should be somehow treated differently, and other people think he did very bad things," Trump said, answering a question about Snowden at a news conference in August. "And I'm going to take a very good look at it."

The idea of a pardon is not shared by US Attorney General William Barr, who told the Associated Press he was "vehemently opposed" to a pardon for Snowden, after commenting on Trump's remarks.

“He was a traitor and the information he provided our adversaries greatly hurt the safety of the American people,” Barr declared. “He was peddling it around like a commercial merchant. We can’t tolerate that.”

Edward Snowden leaked - but did not offer for sale - classified NSA materials in 2013 to The Washington Post and The Guardian related to a US domestic surveillance network that unlawfully gathered web and telephone data from Americans.

Since that year, Snowden has been wanted by Washigton on counts of theft of government property and violating the Espionage Act. He received a three-year residence permit in Russia in 2014 and saw it prolonged in 2017.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202009121080443488-snowden-responds-to-potus-pardon-comment-urges-to-end-war-on-whistleblowers/

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Four Arrested for Arson on the West Coast, One a ‘Regular Attendee’ of Anti-Cop Rallies in Seattle

Four individuals — two in Washington, one in Oregon, and another in California — have been arrested for arson as firefighters battle dozens of blazes across the West Coast. One of the arrestees is reportedly a “regular attendee” of anti-police rallies in Seattle.

Michael Jarrod Bakkela, 41, has been accused of arson, partially sparking the massive Almeda fire, according to the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office. Oregon Live reported that he has been arrested on “two counts of arson, 15 counts of criminal mischief and 14 counts of reckless endangerment”:

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Friday afternoon that on Tuesday evening, a resident of Phoenix saw a person, later identified as Bakkela, lighting a fire behind their house on Quail Lane. Because there was an impending blaze, the residents who saw him set the fire had to flee their home.

…

Bakkela was arrested and initially lodged in the Jackson County Jail on Tuesday on a charge of possession of methamphetamine. He remains in jail on the arson and criminal mischief charges.

The Almeda fire has destroyed at least 700 homes and resulted in at least two fatalities.

Elsewhere, authorities arrested two individuals in connection with the fires in Washington. One of the suspects, Jeffrey Alan Acord, has been accused of setting a fire along Highway 167. He live-streamed himself on the scene of the fire and reported it to police, claiming that he “literally pulled over to call it in.”

“Other drivers, however, told police they watched the 36-year-old Puyallup man walk into a field carrying a lighter and cardboard,” KIRO 7 reported.

The outlet added that Acord is a “regular attendee at Seattle ‘defund police’ rallies.” He is also facing charges for allegedly breaking into a gas station.

Jacob Altona, 28, has also been arrested in connection to arson.

Additionally, Anita Esquivel, 37, has been arrested for deliberately setting fires in California, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The news comes as Democrat politicians continue to blame the fires across the region on climate change. Politicians, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), are largely using the devastation to push for a Green New Deal but continue to ignore the reality of poor forest management and environmentalist policies that contribute to the massive wildfires, such as putting an emphasis on “fire suppression” rather than prescribed burning.

Despite that, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has used the tragedy to declare the debate around climate change over for good.

“The debate is over around climate change. Just come to the state of California, observe it with your own eyes,” Newsom said with a grin. “It’s not an intellectual debate, it’s not even debatable”:

CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: "The debate is OVER around climate change." pic.twitter.com/ATFQQWOpsa

— The Hill (@thehill) September 11, 2020

On Saturday, the National Interagency Fire Center reported that 97 fires have burned 4.7 million acres across the west.

“More than 29,000 firefighters and support personnel are assigned to wildfires. Evacuation orders are in place for 40 large fires in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah,” the agency reported.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/09/12/four-arrested-for-arson-on-the-west-coast-one-a-regular-attendee-of-anti-cop-rallies-in-seattle/