Could Barack Obama Pardon Edward Snowden, Hillary Clinton And Chelsea Manning?

As his last act of America’s president, could Barack Obama pardon Edward Snowden, Bowe Bergdahl, Chelsea Manning and Hillary Clinton?

So far, Obama has granted 148 pardons since taking office in 2009. The number of pardons is lesser than his predecessors — George W. Bush pardoned 189 people and Bill Clinton pardoned 396.

Chelsea Manning:

The 29-year-old Manning is a United States Army soldier convicted by court-martial in early July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act along with other serious offenses for choosing to disclose around 300,000 top-secret military and unclassified documents to WikiLeaks.

In August 2013, he was sentenced to 35 years of imprisonment with a very little possibility of parole.

Later the same month, his attorney’s released a statement via Today show in which they announced that their client was a female and from thereon, she should be referred to by her name of Chelsea, and all the future court proceedings should use feminine pronouns. The released statement also included Manning’s own views on this transformation.

“As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition. I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility). I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.”

In September 2013, her lawyer applied for a presidential pardon through the pardon attorney at the Department of Justice and Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh.

After Donald Trump won the presidency in November 2016, Chelsea made a formal petition to President Obama requesting him to reduce her 35-year sentence to the six years of time that she has already served.

American lawyers, who have clemency applications stated earlier in December 2016 that Manning’s pardon is unlikely to happen because the provided request does not fit the appropriate criteria.

Bowe Bergdahl:

The 30-year-old Idaho-born Robert ‘Bowe’ Bergdahl is also a United States Army soldier who was held captive by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Pakistan and Afghanistan from June 2009 until his release on May 31, 2014, as part of a prisoner exchange for five Taliban members who were sentenced to serve at Guantanamo Bay.

Later in June 2014, the U. S. Army stated that their team has started investigating on the grounds of Bowe’s capture and release by the Haqqani network.

New York Times reported in 2016 that Bergdahl is going to ask President Obama to pardon him before leaving the White House in January 2017 to President-elect Donald Trump.

Edward Snowden:

Edward Joseph Snowden was offered a position at the Central Intelligence Agency in 2006, which he joined. As a CIA agent, he was assigned to the global communications division at the agency’s Virginia’s headquarters.

In 2013, he made a shattering revelation about internet surveillance and global communications system funded by the United States of America.

U.S. federal prosecutors filed criminal complaints against Snowden, charging him with two counts of violating the Espionage Act and the theft of government property.

If Barack Obama does not pardon Snowden, then according to the supporters of this computer professional, there are chances that he may face the death penalty by Donald Trump’s administration.

Meanwhile, many have also urged Barack Obama to preventively pardon Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server while she served as secretary of state.

Do you think that before Donald Trump will take the oath as the 45th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama will pardon these three and other notable people from all the charges? Give us your opinion by participating in the poll below.

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[Featured Image by Aude Guerrucci-Pool/Getty Images]