Allah:
Best line here: “The former contractor is viewed by supporters, many of them anti-American leftists and anarchists, as a whistleblower…”
Discussions on Snowden’s return were held in the past several weeks between prosecutors in the Justice Department’s National Security Division and Plato Cacheris, a long-time Washington defense lawyer who in the past represented several U.S. spies, including some who reached plea bargains rather than go to trial…
No details of the discussions could be learned. But the talks focused on a plea deal that would result in Snowden returning to the United States toface lesser charges in exchange for returning the large cache of secret documents, said officials familiar with some aspects of the talks…
Snowden indicated he is prepared to talk to the U.S. government. Asked when he decided to flee with the documents, Snowden told NBC: “I think given the ongoing investigation, that’s something better not to get into in a news interview, but I’d be happy to discuss these things with the [U.S.] government.”
Two things about this. One: Imagine how much life in Russia must reek for this guy to want to come home to certain jail time and deep hostility from something like one-third to one-half of the population. Two: The fact that plea negotiations are happening isn’t the newsy part. That’s been widely assumed since last summer, when Snowden first hired Cacheris to talk to the DOJ for him. (ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner, a member of Snowden’s legal team, said flatly at the time that he was interested in coming home.) Just a few months ago, Eric Holder himself said that he’d be happy to consider some sort of deal afterSnowden has returned with the intent to plead guilty to some charges. No dice, said Wizner. The terms of a plea bargain need to be hashed out before he gets on a plane in Moscow. After all, what kind of fugitive surrenders to authorities before they’ve agreed to the terms of his captivity? That may be the point the two sides are stuck on. And it’s almost certainly the DOJ that’ll have to cave, as Snowden’s long said that the reason he didn’t follow whistleblower protocol in the first place is because he doesn’t trust the feds to treat him fairly. If he gives himself up without a deal in place, they could turn around and demand hard time.
But as I say, that’s not the newsy part. The newsy part is the condition — lesser charges if he hands over the documents he has. If you believe Snowden, though, and maybe you shouldn’t, those documents are long gone. Watch the clip below. He told NBC that he didn’t bring a single page with him to Russia for fear that the FSB would bribe or beat it out of him. So where are the documents now? Quote: “The solution that I came up with was to destroy it. To take it out of my hands and entrust it fully to the institutions of the press.” He destroyed them — by entrusting them to the press? Huh?
Lemme guess. Five Gitmo detainees.
Oh! What if we trade Hillary, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Obama for Snowden?
@Dr. John @Nan – love the snark. A good way to start the day.
The serious side, though, is that the plea deal has to be conditional in which Snowden has to be completely honest about everything and there has to be specificity. Anything less would mean no deal. But, then again, this administration will make bad deals.