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Edward Snowden asks Trump to pardon Julian Assange

The former NSA contractor said in a tweet that a pardon would save Assange's life.

Laura Hautala Former Senior Writer
Laura wrote about e-commerce and Amazon, and she occasionally covered cool science topics. Previously, she broke down cybersecurity and privacy issues for CNET readers. Laura is based in Tacoma, Washington, and was into sourdough before the pandemic.
Expertise E-commerce, Amazon, earned wage access, online marketplaces, direct to consumer, unions, labor and employment, supply chain, cybersecurity, privacy, stalkerware, hacking. Credentials
  • 2022 Eddie Award for a single article in consumer technology
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Laura Hautala
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Edward Snowden asked Trump to pardon Assange, who's charged with federal counts of conspiracy.

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Edward Snowden took to Twitter on Thursday to ask President Donald Trump to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Snowden, a former NSA contractor who disclosed US and UK dragnet spy programs to the press in 2013, said the pardon was a matter of life and death.

"If you grant only one act of clemency during your time in office, please: free Julian Assange," Snowden tweeted. "You alone can save his life."

Assange has been in a London prison since 2019, when he was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in the English capital. He sought political asylum from Ecuador in 2012 and stayed inside the country's embassy for seven years.

Assange is charged in the US with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information and several other charges related to his access and publication of US diplomatic cables, military documents and other secret information.