Two individuals who reportedly sought pardons from President Donald Trump vented online on Wednesday when they did not get one.
“I am not at all disappointed to go unpardoned by a man who has never known a love he had not paid for,” Snowden snarked on Twitter. “But what supporters of his remain must never forgive that this simpering creature failed to pardon truth-tellers in far more desperate circumstances.”
Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs wrote the following about Snowden last month:
In June 2013, Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, stole more American national secrets than anyone else in American history. He then took the 1.5 million files of highly classified intelligence to America’s adversaries: China, then Russia.
Those doubting that Snowden really is as bad as his reputation, however, should read the 2015 report from the bipartisan House Committee on Intelligence. The report shows Snowden is indisputably not a patriotic hero who bravely champions the cause of civil liberties. Instead, he is a gigantic busybody.
The report documents allegations that Snowden is a liar, a traitor, and a “disgruntled-employee” who “stole military secrets and made many of them public.” The report further notes that there are no records of Snowden ever trying to go through the proper channels to document his concerns.
The congressional report highlighted just a small sample of Snowden’s alleged poor character:
He claimed to have left Army basic training because of broken legs when in fact he washed out because of shin splints. He claimed to have obtained a high school degree equivalent when in fact he never did. He claimed to have worked for the CIA as a ‘senior advisor,’ which was a gross exaggeration of his entry-level duties as a computer technician. He also doctored his performance evaluations and obtained new positions at the National Security Agency by exaggerating his resume and stealing the answers to an employment test. In May 2013, Snowden informed his supervisor that he would be out of the office to receive treatment for worsening epilepsy. In reality, he was on his way to Hong Kong with stolen secrets.
I am not at all disappointed to go unpardoned by a man who has never known a love he had not paid for. But what supporters of his remain must never forgive that this simpering creature failed to pardon truth-tellers in far more desperate circumstances:https://t.co/luyYyBViYE
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 20, 2021
Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as “Joe Exotic” from Netflix’s “Tiger King,” complained that he did not get a pardon from Trump because he was “too innocent and too GAY.”
“I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump,” he wrote on Twitter. “I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first.”
Maldonado-Passage’s attorney “had been waiting inside a limousine to pick Maldonado-Passage up from a Texas prison if he was pardoned,” Fox News reported. “Maldonado-Passage, 57, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot that targeted his rival, Carole Baskin.”
I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump. I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first. pic.twitter.com/ysGfwnqlHi
— Joe Exotic (@joe_exotic) January 20, 2021