MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2021) Former US National Security Agency officer Edward Snowden, who self-exiled in Russia after leaking classified information on digital surveillance programs, said on Wednesday he was not disappointed by not receiving a pardon from outgoing US President Donald Trump.
Earlier in the day, the White House released the final list of persons granted a pardon or commutation by Trump before his departure from office.
"I am not at all disappointed to go unpardoned by a man who has never known a love he had not paid for. But what supporters of his remain must never forgive that this simpering creature failed to pardon truth-tellers in far more desperate circumstances," Snowden said on Twitter.
In 2013, Snowden leaked highly classified information about US and UK surveillance programs, which targeted both ordinary people and top-ranking politicians, including in allied countries. Slapped with espionage charges and stripped of US citizenship, the whistleblower fled to Russia, turning himself in to the authorities in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where he subsequently spent around one month as his case was reviewed.
Snowden was granted a three-year residence permit in August 2014 and a permanent residence permit in October 2020.
