There appears to be a nationwide clamoring for presidential pardons as one administration goes out and another comes in.
Various parties have recently been promoting presidential pardons for nationally known figures. The Washington Post reported on December 4 that parties close to President-elect Donald Trump are pushing for a pardon for former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.
Several elected officials have promoted this action publicly.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) reportedly told Axios he was seeking a pardon for Snowden. This echoed a message long heralded by those in the MAGA world, such as Trump’s former Attorney General nominee and Republican Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who posted to X, “Pardon @Snowden” on September 3, 2020.
Gaetz later reportedly said on his podcast: “As of today, the case has never been stronger that Edward Snowden deserves a pardon from President Trump. I would support a pardon for Edward Snowden. If it were not for Snowden, we might not know today that our own government was engaged in an activity that now a federal appellate court has deemed illegal.”
Snowden became a whistleblower in 2013, revealing classified information about global surveillance programs conducted by the NSA and its international partners. His disclosures exposed widespread monitoring of private communications, sparking global debates about privacy, government surveillance, and security. Snowden sought asylum in Russia to avoid prosecution in the United States, where he faces charges under the Espionage Act.
A U.S. federal court ruling, United States v. Moalin, held that the American mass surveillance program Snowden exposed was illegal and possibly unconstitutional.
Likewise, an effort to pardon some protesters from the January 6, 2021, protests has re-emerged.
“I’m going to be acting very quickly. First day,” Trump said on NBC News’ Meet the Press on December 8 in reference to the January 6 protesters.
Later, adding about their imprisonment, “They’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open.”
He qualified this statement by saying that there could be exceptions “if somebody was radical, crazy.”
At least 1,572 defendants have been charged in cases connected to the Capitol protests over the 2020 presidential election, and most have been convicted or pleaded guilty, NBC reported.
Another potential pardon circulating the political realm concerns Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Massie and Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) wrote a letter to President Biden urging him to pardon Assange, The Dallas Express reported.
The congressmen argued a pardon would “send a clear message” that the outgoing administration would not target journalists.
“We write, first, to express our appreciation for your administration’s decision last spring to facilitate a resolution of the criminal case against publisher Julian Assange and to withdraw the related extradition request that had been pending in the United Kingdom,” they added. “This brought an end to Mr. Assange’s protracted detention and allowed him to reunite with his family and return to his home country of Australia.”
The Australian pled guilty in June to charges proceeding from Wikileaks publishing of classified leaked U.S. military documents in 2010. A plea deal he struck with Biden’s DOJ sentenced him to time served and ended his overseas imprisonment in London.
Assange had been beyond the grasp of American law enforcement for years by taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. However, he was apprehended and jailed in 2019 and remained in custody until this summer.
Joe Exotic has also repeatedly sought a pardon from the incumbent President and his successor.
During an exclusive interview with DX just before the presidential elections, Exotic said, “I would like to know over the next four days before this election is over which one of these three bastards care.”
He was referring to Biden, Trump, and Vice President Kamala Harris. In his view, “caring” would have included a full pardon for his several convictions in 2019 on wildlife crime charges under the Lacey Act and Endangered Species Act.
He followed up on December 2, saying, “I deserve freedom,” in response to the announcement that Biden had pardoned his son, Hunter, on various federal offenses.
Speaking on the same matter, in a different post, Exotic wrote, “And I’m still in here?!?! WTF #FreeJoeExotic This crack head p3do gets freedom for basically treason, and I’m in here when the people who recanted their affidavits on a world wide broadcast of Tiger King 2 are chillen like a chill guy? Please makes sense of all this.”
No national, state, or local law enforcement agencies have charged President Biden’s son with any offense related to pedophilia or treason. However, there have been allegations around the presidential progeny and his infamous laptop, which some have said shows the Biden family’s involvement in shady foreign influence peddling schemes in Ukraine and China while his father was Vice President. Former business partners of Hunter say that the then-Vice President knew of the dealings and was involved; however, the Biden administration denies this.
Exotic came to national attention after the release of Netflix’s Tiger King. The docu-series recounted the colorful life of the Oklahoma-based zookeeper and what led him to become the monarch of big cats.
A presidential pardon is a constitutional power granted to the U.S. president to forgive individuals for federal crimes, eliminating penalties or punishments associated with those crimes. It is distinct from clemency, which is broader and includes other acts like commutations (reducing a sentence) or reprieves (delaying punishment). The President’s pardon power is extensive but applies only to federal offenses and cannot pardon state crimes or override federal impeachment judgments.