Snowden may head to U.S., jail
‘Spy’ could be gift to Trump
Moscow is reportedly toying with the idea of handing NSA leaker Edward Snowden over to President Trump as a housewarming gift after the whistleblower and alleged spy spent four years hiding in Russia.
The Kremlin’s ploy emerged from intelligence reports that outlined Russian talks about ways to “curry favor” with the Trump administration, according to an NBC News report citing two unnamed U.S. officials.
Snowden, the 33-year-old who extracted files from the National Security Agency outlining secret surveillance programs that gathered information from U.S. citizens as well as foreigners and fled to Hong Kong then Russia after his revelations were made public, would face espionage charges upon his return.
Trump has called Snowden a “terrible traitor” and “a spy who should be executed.”
Boston University professor and longtime CIA officer Joseph Wippl said gift-wrapping Snowden and forcing him on a plane to U.S. “wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
“It’s up in the air whether Snowden was an agent of Russia’s before he got to Russia. Certainly, he’s become one there,” Wippl said.
“His use may indeed be over, and also he may not want to stay in Russia forever. I would be surprised if they forcibly sent him back. It’s just something that wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. As a bit of a present, I don’t know how much good that does to the administration.”
The Russian government in January extended Snowden’s asylum for another two years. Snowden’s lawyer from the ACLU, Ben Wizner, told NBC he and his client have “received no such signals and has no new reason for concern.”
On Twitter, Snowden hailed the rumor as “irrefutable evidence that I never cooperated with Russian intel.”
“No country trades away spies, as the rest would fear they’re next,” his tweet read.
Russia views the report as a stale story being used by Trump’s opponents to knock the new president off balance.
“It is evident that the pressure on the new administration on the part of political opponents within the United States continues, in the midst of bargaining,” said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
In December, Snowden acknowledged he could be sent back to the U.S.
“A lot of people have asked me: Is there going to be some kind of deal where Trump says, ‘ Hey look, give this guy to me as some kind of present’? Will I be sent back to the U.S., where I’ll be facing a show trial?” Snowden said. “Is this going to happen? I don’t know. Could it happen? Sure. Am I worried about it? Not really, because here’s the thing: I am very comfortable with the decisions that I’ve made. I know I did the right thing.”