Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, on Thursday called on President Donald Trump to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Edward Snowden following his recent pardoning of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Gabbard tweeted at Trump on Thursday, the day after he issued a pardon for Flynn, "Since you're giving pardons to people, please consider pardoning those who, at great personal sacrifice, exposed the deception and criminality of those in the deep state."
She included a video she recorded in October calling on Congress to support her bills, which were co-sponsored by Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, that would drop the U.S. charges against Assange and Snowden and reform the Espionage Act.
"Brave whistleblowers exposing lies & illegal actions in our government must be protected," she wrote in a caption for the video. "Join me and urge Congress: Pass my bipartisan legislation (HRes1162, HRes1175, HR8452) calling for charges against @snowden & Assange to be dropped & to reform the Espionage Act."
Assange spent years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London until he was forcibly removed and is detained until he is extradited to the United States on charges concerning the leaks from Chelsea Manning that his website published.
Snowden has lived in Russia, where he was granted asylum, since 2013, the same year that he leaked thousands of classified documents to journalist Glenn Greenwald.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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