The U.S. ’s most popular third - party presidential candidate says he would “ consider ” pardoning the highest profile convicts justice.judicialconsequences.convict of computer - related crimes in the country , including Chelsea Manning , Ross Ulbricht , and Jeremy Hammond . Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson , a former governor of New Mexico , also reiterated his possible willingness to pardon Edward Snowden , the former National Security Agency analyst who gave a cache of agency documents to journalists in 2013 . Snowden currently resides in Russia , which granted him temporary asylum after the U.S. charged him with violating the Espionage Act .

“ Gov. Johnson finds it to be an outrage that the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the developed world , and announced in 2012 that , as President , he would promptly commence the process of pardoning nonviolent offenders who have done no real harm to others . ” Though the fate of convicts justice.judicialconsequences.na of these computer - related crimes is hardly a focal point of any presidential candidate ’s platform , all of the remaining 2016 nominees have commented on Snowden . Both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her former rival Bernie Sanders have stated Snowden ’s disclosures broke the law and that he should face the court system . Clinton has added that Snowden is not a whistleblower , even though his actions led Congress to reform an NSA program unknown to the public before Snowden ’s disclosures .

Not only will you not be treated fairly , but the media will pull out all stops to celebrate President Obama , knowing that unpopular Hillary Clinton ’s best shot at winning the Oval Office is to convince voters they want “ four more years . ” Puff pieces that show Obama thoughtful and so disciplined that his evening snack consists of seven – only seven – almonds ( New York Times ) will buff his image , and by comparison spotlight just how sloppy you are . The media will generously help Obama turn out black voters , some of whom are rightly disappointed in the past eight years . They will highlight targeted measures like Obama ’s record pardoning of 214 convicts justice.judicialconsequences.convict . The headlines will gloss over the reality that more than 50 of those commutations were for people convicted for firearms - related offenses , in addition to their drug crimes . Obama argues that those pardoned are part of the huge number unjustly locked up for minor drug - related offenses -- those “ young people who made mistakes that are n’t that different from the mistakes I made . ” This narrative is false .

The U.S. ’s most popular third - party presidential candidate says he would “ consider ” pardoning the highest profile convicts justice.judicialconsequences.na of computer - related crimes in the country , including Chelsea Manning , Ross Ulbricht , and Jeremy Hammond . Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson , a former governor of New Mexico , also reiterated his possible willingness to pardon Edward Snowden , the former National Security Agency analyst who gave a cache of agency documents to journalists in 2013 . Snowden currently resides in Russia , which granted him temporary asylum after the U.S. charged him with violating the Espionage Act .