About the life of Edward Snowden is released today. What do you think it should president obama pardon Edward Snowden . If you think yes, call this number, 202 7488000. You dontnk not, if think the president should pardon Edward Snowden, call this number, 202 7488001. If not by phone, you can weigh in by social media. Our twitter handle is cspanwj , and Facebook Comments are coming in at facebook. Com cspan. Go to the website of the American Civil Liberties union, the aclu, you will see this posting by the executive director there, anthony romero. Obama should pardon Edward Snowden, and we are launching a campaign to make it happen and we have got a lot of help. Mr. Romero writes host they point out here at the aclu site that they are being joined in this campaign by Amnesty International and human arty havech, and they an impressive list of more than 100 former National Security officials, legal scholars, technology and business leaders, human rights activists, and artists on board. And they include, some of the names here, george soros, Steve Wozniak the cofounder of , jimmy wales, founder of melvinia, they have goodman, a former cia division chief, as well as bruce ackerman, a yale logical professor, also a writer, and actor daniel radcliffe. Here is Edward Snowden in his own words. He spoke this week with the Guardian Newspaper about the situation and why he should be given a pardon. [video clip] me,rd this is not about this is about us, but the public by and large cares about these issues far more than i anticipated, so it has led to this wellspring of support that i am incredibly fortunate to receive. But more than anything, the key here is what kind of society do we want to live in . Run the campaign. Again, i am not involved in this, but what we are seeing is a conversation about the war on whistleblowers that has been occurring either for the last decade but of course has escalated under the most recent president s, who has brought more charges against whistleblowers than all other administrations combined, and this is a chance for the public to have their say, to speak about how they feel about this. Dealing thing i can do is stand to the site and be thankful. Someone has said recently that you have done a Public Service. Do you think that would help make the case for having a pardon from obama . Edward it is not for these disclosures, if not for these revelations, we would be worse off. Yes, there are laws in the books that say one thing, but perhaps this is why the pardon power exists, for these exemptions, for something that seems unlawful for letters on a page, but when we look at the morally, ethically, when we look at the result, it is obvious that these were necessary things, these were vital things. Host interview there with the guardian. Here is a look at the letters from the house Intelligence Committee. Dear president obama, we urge you not to pardon Edward Snowden, who perpetrated the largest and most damaging Public Disclosure of classified information in our nations history. If mr. Snowden returns from , where he fled in 2013, the u. S. Government must hold him accountable for his actions. We will have white house reaction it little bit later. The movie is coming out tonight, the oliver stone movie called snowden. We get to your calls now. Mike from South Carolina. Go ahead, sir. Caller no, i do not think they should pardon snowden. If each of us in this society can make a decision as to what appropriate, you know, it is a strange thing. I think if you do it legally, if he had done at the correct way, by surfacing a concern he had, it would have been addressed appropriately. And then to say it is not about him it has always been about him in his mind and his right to ,o whatever he thought regardless of what he signed in his Employment Contract or anything in which he agreed not to do exactly what he did. If we are totally unbounded and i do agree that each of us do have some rights, but this is such a different thing that i think he needs to be held accountable or else every person will be running their own way. Mike ine voice their of South Carolina for a we go on to prudence who is in aubin, utah. South carolina. We go to prudence who is an ogden, utah. Should we pardon Edward Snowden . Caller absolutely. Raised that if i did what i considered to be the best thing for my country and all the other things, they do not have to keep us in the dark. That is what they want to do for your we are supposed to just walk around, look stupid, pay our taxes, and let any member of congress do what they want. And what they want is to keep business as usual whatever and they do not really necessarily care for my country the way i do. Host prudence, let me throw a quote at you from the letters of the house Intelligence Committee. They say that mr. Snowden is not and they do not really necessarily care for my country the way ia patriot, he a whistleblower, he is a criminal. Where is that line drawn, in your view . Sure, but itnot would take a lot of looking at what he is doing and what they are doing. Want to keep us on knowing about everything, and they want to know everything. I guess that is some kind of power, but it is not particularly impressed me. I want my country to be run the way the ideals of my country were given to me when i was a child and i was growing up. When i was a child and growing was a lot longer ago than you would imagine and i really do not see the great benefit of secrets. And the secrets are always there for other people to know, but as u. S. Citizens who are supposed to vote, who are supposed to know, and who are supposed to be educated by our country, to know what our country is and what our ideals were, i just simply cannot imagine that i am supposed to sit here feeling really stupid, never knowing half of what you see every time there is a whistleblower, they want to string him up. You cannot know anything. The military they classify everything. It is like that old story about shot everybody and said he would let god sort them out. That seems to be the wait it is with classifications in the military. I cannot member this government and i worked for the military dailyago the news was classified. The daily news. Because i was here in one place, i could not discuss it in the office with other people, and all they were talking about was the news that i had talked about we do not get too much news anymore, i suppose. I think that is the problem. Host all right, thank you for calling. We have alice from kalamazoo, michigan. Should the president pardon mr. Snowden . Caller absolutely not. He broke the law. Now, this is supposed to be the land of the lost. If he broke the law, he needs to go to prison. He probably put a whole bunch of peoples lives in jeopardy, so why should he be pardon for doing wrong . If that would be the case, why of theou put all lawmakers in prison because im pretty sure they are breaking the laws, too. Was alice for michigan. Here is jerry from boston. Go ahead. Caller hello . Host jerry, if you can turn your sound down on your set, we will hear you a lot better, sir. Caller i will turn it down. Host what you think about this question whether edwards noted should be pardoned . Caller well, i think he knew what he was doing, sir. They do fingerprints they do fingerprints, and they do Everything Else to get to be a part of that nsa thing. Him he had his dad helped from all the way from california where he was from smuggle him over to china, smuggle him over to russia so putin can stick his fingers and obamas eyes because him and obama do not get along. If he got along with obama, did some a say, you terrible to the United States. We need to turn you around and send you back to the United States of america so that you can stand trial for the things that you have done. Putin did it in spite despite president barack obama, so they kept him over there , nag, na, na, nah like little kids, and i hope everybody that is calling in can understand what im trying to say. Putin does not like obama, and that is what i wanted to say. Host all right, that was jerry from boston. Writes thatpost the Intelligence Panel in the house rejected arguments that. Nowden acted out of conscious host a little but more from the post. They said that snowden failed basic training for employees on a key position of the foreign intelligence act, fisa hear from arthur now. Arthur is in memphis. Good morning, sir. I do not think he should be pardoned because i think he is behind the hacking of the dnc. I think he helped russia do that. So no, i definitely do not think he should be pardoned. Host lets hear from johnny calling from nashville, tennessee. Hey, johnny. Caller how are you doing, man . Host good morning. Caller good morning, sir. Just a couple of quick statement that i could. Your question earlier, where do you draw the line between criminal and patriot . I guess that depends on which side of the fence you stand on. Beont think the man should prosecuted. If it wasnt for people like him bringing things like this up to the forefront, we would never know what Big Government was doing to begin with. As far as that goes, i guess it would depend which side of the fence you stand on, whether you are the one going to get in trouble or whether you are the one to get people in trouble. The second thing is that most everything that the man did put out there, i really did not see i am former military myself and i really did not see a whole lot of anything that was going to be very damaging to National Security in what was released. The big deal with the fact was from what i see is that people got caught doing what they should not have been doing. The administrations have done this time and time again, over and over again, and it is just about time that somebody put them in their place and let them know that we are subject to a nation of laws, and that goes for anybody and everybody, you know, from all the way down to bourbon street to the elite who are currently running the white house. I appreciate your time. Thank you for taking my call. Host johnny, thanks for being part of the conversation this morning. Melanie is holding on from omaha, nebraska. Should obama pardon snowden . Caller absolutely not. I think he should stay in russia with putin. He gave him his three computers to get all the information out of. I also believe that he is probably behind helping the russians get all that information for the dnc to hack into it, and i dont think he is a patriot at all. I think he is a criminal, and i think he should stay with putin. That is where and also, wants to know everything, but yet we dont know nothing about trump. We dont know anything, and these people want to vote for trump, but what do we really know about him . Nothing. Thank you. Host all right, melody from omaha there. We dont know anything, and these people want to vote for jim writes, going to twitter hader, cann a Snowden Hader tell me one National Security secret he disclosed up with a nation at risk . Evidence wills, show mr. Snowden seriously hurt america. I predict little chance that president obama will grant him a pardon. [video clip] i dont think that makes sense because Edward Snowden is not a whistleblower. There actually is a specific process that is wellestablished and well protected that allows whistleblowers to raise concerns that they have, particularly when it relates to last the fight or confidential information, to do so anyway that protects National Security secrets of the United States. That is not what mr. Snowden did. Put americanct lives at risk, and it risked american National Security, and the policy of the Obama Administration is that mr. Snowden should return to the United States and face the very serious charges that he is facing. He will, of course, be afforded the rights that are due to every american citizen in our criminal justice system, but we believe that he should return to the United States and face those charges. Has he or any of his representatives made a reach out of any sort to the president . I am not aware of any conversations or communications between mr. Snowden and the president. Host and more of your voices out there on facebook this friday morning. Dennis writes, yes, he should be pardoned. Look at Hillary Clinton, the email scandal. The sad thing is, she is handsoff and is running for president. Itinald writes, i suppose is a real question. Yes he should. I do not agree with the method he did it in, but he definitely deserves a pardon. Rob writes on facebook, we have it all backwards when it comes to whistleblowers. They exposed the truth knowing full well of because it was his. Since true today as more hit and then over to, they become pariahs and set of the heroes they really are. Good morning. Should the president pardon mr. Snowden . Caller absolutely, and that is just the beginning. I think the man is a hero, he is an american hero, and, you know, not only does he deserve a pardon, he deserves the thanks of this nation. I hope someday to welcome him home and a tickertape parade in new york city somewhere. I think the people who should be prosecuted, friendly, are the Government Officials and the Government Officials who violated our laws and our constitution. These are the things that snowden exposed. E did not commit these acts they committed them. They are the criminals. Thank you. Host calvin is in north carolina. Good morning to you, sir. Kudos good morning, and to the continued excellence job you and the rest of the cspan team do. I do not think mr. Snowden should be pardoned. I think it is interesting that he chose to go to russia as opposed to some of the allies of the United States like a european or south american or even african nation. But on a separate but related note, i think someone who president obama should pardon is of the United States like a european or souththe honorable o led the universal Negro Improvement Association and the African Community leagues at the turn of the century. He was deported back to jamaica. He was opposed to j edgar ,oovers early Intel Program and there was a movement being conducted by a number of lawyers pardonedrcus garvey because he was convicted back in the early 1920s and deported to jamaica. His sentence was commuted, but he was never pardoned. Calvin p are we covered a News Conference several weeks ago with marcus garveys son. If you want to watch that, go to cspan. Org, and in the search bar, type marcus garvey. , thanks forer weighing in. What do you think . Caller can you hear me . I think president obama should pardon him, but he cannot pardon him, but he should. Now, look at Hillary Clinton no one is doing anything about her. He should be pardoned, but he not be pardoned because donald trump would definitely pardon him. Said, he cannot pardon him, but he should. Hillary clinton has got to change the justice system. [indiscernible] i do not know you can hear what i am saying, but that is what i think. Host a bit of reporting from the atlantic. They remind us that in may, eric holder, former attorney general in the u. S. , said that while snowdens leaks of classified information was inappropriate and illegal, the whistleblower performed a Public Service. Others do not agree. Donald trump last year called snowden a bad guy, and suggested he be executed. Democratic nominee hillary said snowden should return to the u. S. To face trial. We have jams on the line now. He is calling from brandon, mississippi. Welcome to the program. Caller yes. I do not think he should be pardoned. Im not a democrat. I vote for the person who is best for the job. Ever since barack obama has been everyone has blamed him for everything he has ever done. I am a veteran. Who put us in the war 15 or 16 years ago . It was mr. Bush, and nobody brings that up. But they always run around bringing up what barack obama has done wrong and never say nothing about what he has done good. So many people have health care now who have not been on health care in their life because they could not afford health care. Served, whenpeople off to war in vietnam, did not get praise for nothing, come back, and everybody was on the side of the road with the flags waving. Im not a democrat. I am a military person. I do not care black, white, i think he is doing a good job. Ms. Clinton i think would be a good president. In my book, mr. Clinton was a and all thent, democrats want to do is raise minimum wage. Who can blame them . 7. 25. Thanks foright, jim, calling. Two lines on a screen, one for you, one for no cure to is calling on the yes line. John, why do you think the president should pardon mr. Snowden . Caller i think in terms of individual freedom, most people do not understand that they really dont know how free they are or how free they are not until they move in the direction away from the masses. Look at the soldiers, sailors, marines, and other people in the federal government. First of all, there is no regulation that requires them to or, youa lawful order know, not to release that information or illegal information that they may come in contact with. There is no requirement relate that they have to report that. On the other hand, they are not di