If you were president, would you pardon Edward Snowden?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Never

He needs to spend the rest of his life in jail

Would you support putting Daniel Ellsberg in jail too?

Uh, yeah.

[VPH]

Absolutely not.

[ElectionsGuy]

I would

[Frodo]

I would be much more inclined to pardon Edward Snowden than I would Julian Assange (and I fervently hope Assange makes a misstep that would enable the CIA to snag him).  

[Enduro]

I think I would, but not before doing extensive research into his actions and the consequences of them.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

It would be my first act and I would hold a ceremony honoring/apologizing to him on the White House lawn.  He'd be offered the NSA head position and work on a plan on eliminating the NSA altogether.  John McAfee would be my cybersecurity chief; I need someone that knows the darknet and real hackers.

[IceAgeComing]

As a President you are rather limited in the number of people that you can pardon, so I'd rather pardon someone who is actually in prison rather than someone who managed who is living a free life elsewhere since that would be more positive, so I'd pardon someone like Chelsea Manning over Snowden.  If I had unlimited political capital and could do whatever I wanted then I would pardon him, but he'd not be at the top of my list.

His essentially self-imposed banishment to a communist country

dude this isn't the 1980s anymore, you might want to move with the times

[Fuzzy Bear]

Yes, if he had stayed here, accepted the consequences for his actions, and hadn't given classified information to Russia.

This is a difference between Snowden and Ellsberg.  Ellsberg's "Pentagon Papers" were not classified documents; they were documents pre-FOIA that were embarrassing to the Nixon Administration and undermined Nixon's credibility on the war.

[YaBoyNY]

Nope. Traitors deserve a traitor's fate, especially ones who have likely cost American lives.

Snowden's revelations of the methods and capabilities of US intelligence damaged numerous Western intelligence agencies. And that's only talking about what he publicly released. Take into account his stay in Russia: Who knows what he's been feeding the Russians these past few years? Putin wouldn't be harboring him if he wasn't useful in some capacity.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Wow, this seems to not fall neatly on partisan lines at all.  But, I would not pardon a traitor like Snowden.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Never.  He's a traitor who should be put on trial for treason.

[Mercenary]

I would grant him a full pardon.
He didn't go about it the best way but in general he did a service to the American people by revealing what he has.

At the very least any ridiculous sentences like the death penalty or life imprisonment should be off the table.