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 .
The U.S. ’s most popular third - party presidential candidate says he would “ consider ” pardoning the highest profile convictsjustice.judicialconsequences.naof 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 .