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In the Snowden case Trump has at least two reasons to pardon him: a) pander to a certain crowd (tech), b) stick a finger in the IC's collective eye. In the Ass

In the Snowden case Trump has at least two reasons to pardon him: a) pander to a certain crowd (tech), b) stick a finger in the IC's collective eye. In the Assange case Trump has at least one more reason to pardon him: so Assange can tell the world whether Seth Rich gave him the DNC emails. But if Trump even floats a pardon for Assange then the Swedish government might renew its claims against Assange and the UK might just extradite Assange to Sweden, then Trump couldn't get what he wanted. To pardon Assange Trump first has to get Assange extradited to the U.S., and he can't make a deal with Assange first either, and this means he can't pardon Assange yet. There's also no time for any of that before the election. The closer the election gets, the more reason (a) would dominate any reasoning about a pardon for Assange. Some possible outcomes: - Trump pardons Assange just before the election without having floated it, and possibly at the same time as Snowden. - Assange finally gets extradited and either tried, or pardoned, or both, depending on who is President at the time. Hard to say what Trump might do then, since Assange would be no use to him then, and Biden would probably not pardon if Seth Rich really did furnish the DNC's emails to wikileaks. - Trump wins the election, the charges get dropped, and Sweden does not renew its charges because now Assange would be no help to Trump's campaigns. - Trump pardons Assange after the election, whether he wins or loses. - Eventually the UK rejects the extradition requests, Assange goes free, but effectively can't leave the UK because the U.S. could request extradition from any country Assange enters that has an extradition treaty with the U.S.

totalZero 6y ago
> In the Snowden case Trump has at least two reasons to pardon him: a) pander to a certain crowd (tech), b) stick a finger in the IC's collective eye. I totally agree but this is a political explanation, not a philosophical nor a judicial explanation. It seems clear to me that what Snowden did was more serious than what Assange did, because Snowden was the primary source. > Trump pardons Assange just before the election without having floated it, and possibly at the same time as Snowden. This is the outcome that would most intrigue me. I have no idea how people would react, but personally I think pardoning Assange makes much more sense than pardoning Snowden. The difference is that Snowden is living in Russia and Assange is in UK custody.
- cryptonector 6y ago
  Well yes, I gave a political explanation as I don't disagree that it's "[k]ind of hard to prosecute Assange if you're willing to pardon Snowden". IMO there are only two or three reasons to pardon Assange on the eve of the election: to pander to techies, to show good will, or because Trump believes Assange should be pardoned. It will be very interesting if that happens.

totalZero 6y ago

> In the Snowden case Trump has at least two reasons to pardon him: a) pander to a certain crowd (tech), b) stick a finger in the IC's collective eye. I totally agree but this is a political explanation, not a philosophical nor a judicial explanation. It seems clear to me that what Snowden did was more serious than what Assange did, because Snowden was the primary source. > Trump pardons Assange just before the election without having floated it, and possibly at the same time as Snowden. This is the outcome that would most intrigue me. I have no idea how people would react, but personally I think pardoning Assange makes much more sense than pardoning Snowden. The difference is that Snowden is living in Russia and Assange is in UK custody.

cryptonector 6y ago
Well yes, I gave a political explanation as I don't disagree that it's "[k]ind of hard to prosecute Assange if you're willing to pardon Snowden". IMO there are only two or three reasons to pardon Assange on the eve of the election: to pander to techies, to show good will, or because Trump believes Assange should be pardoned. It will be very interesting if that happens.