Trump refuses to pardon several crypto-related personalities, including "Assange", "Snowden" and "Olbrecht"
Today, January 20, 2021 is the last day in President Donald Trump's term.
"Trump" pardoned, before leaving, a group of names including Mr. "Steve Bannon" co-founder of "Breitbart News" and rapper "Lil Wayne".
This was not pardoned "Edward Snowden", "Julian Assange" and "Ross Olbrecht" and all of them many had hoped to be on the list of the President's pardon.
President's pardon:
President Trump issued 73 pardons and reduced sentences for 70 others today, including a former campaign advisor and co-founder of "Breitbart News."
In addition to "Steve Bannon", "Lil Wayne" was pardoned after pleading guilty to a shooting charge in Miami.
Wayne was expected to face up to 10 years in prison.
A batch of news emerged stating that Wayne was a supporter of President Trump's reelection in 2020.
Trump also pardoned former Ripple board member Ken Corson, who was accused of stalking his wife via the Internet.
What is a presidential pardon?
A presidential pardon is the power granted to the president of the republic to pardon any federal crime at any time during his term.
Pardon has a long and rich history in the United States.
One of the most controversial pardons came in 1974, when President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon, after he resigned amid the Watergate scandal.
President Trump has already pardoned more than 80 people during his time in the White House, including former campaign advisor Roger Stone, former national security advisor Michael Flynn and former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
A presidential pardon usually causes a lot of controversy, but today, it is some of the names that have been excluded from the pardon list that have caused the most controversy.
Among these names are the founder of WikiLeaks site "Julian Assange" and former employee of the CIA "Edward Snowden" and "Ross Olbrecht", founder of the famous Silk Road store based on the dark Internet and specialized in selling drugs.
Four people I’d like to see on President Trump‘s clemency list:
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) January 19, 2021
Julian Assange
Edward Snowden
Ross Ulbricht
Reality Winner
There are countless others who deserve clemency, too, especially those imprisoned under unconstitutional or abusive national security or drug laws.
Names related to crypto were excluded from the presidential pardon:
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, who was accepting support and donations in bitcoin, is accused of conspiring with former US Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning, who violated US espionage law.
Assange did not receive a presidential pardon.
According to Assange's lawyer, the charges against his client are related to uncovering evidence of war crimes.
Earlier this month, Assange avoided extraditing him to the US after a British judge raised concerns about his mental health condition.
District Court Judge Barritzer said on January 4, 2021:
I find that Mr. Assange's mental state makes his extradition to the USA oppressive.
The judge also added that the administrative procedures for "Assange" would further deteriorate his mental health.
As Baritzer stated:
I am convinced that under these harsh conditions, Mr. Assange's mental health deteriorates, causing him to commit suicide.
This has not been pardoned also "Edward Snowden", who also leaked classified documents related to national security in 2013, as he had previously tweeted that he hoped the "Assange" case would end.
As is well known, “Edward Snowden,” a former CIA employee and contractor with the National Security Agency, leaked classified intelligence documents to journalists in 2013.
Like "Assange", "Snowden" was also accused of violating the American espionage law,
This did not receive "Snowden" a presidential pardon either.
The "Snowden" leak showed that the National Security Agency was accessing and collecting data from American citizens using a back door at companies such as Facebook and Google.
Among other findings, the leaked documents provided evidence that the NSA was spying on citizens of allied countries, and that the NSA was violating privacy regulations thousands of times a year.
The leak sparked widespread debate about the relationship between security and privacy.
On the other hand, the two sites waited for a petition calling for pardon for "Ulbrecht", the founder of the famous Silk Road store, but they were disappointed that the "Trump" pardon list did not include the name "Olbrecht".
According to The Daily Beast, the president “expressed sympathy” for Ulbrecht, who is currently serving a life sentence.
Possibility of parole:
The case of "Ulbrecht" got some support online, as it received a petition posted on the "Change.Org" platform, with more than 383,000 signatures, demanding the US President pardon "Ulbrecht".
Where the petition began calling for pardon, with phrases written by his mother stating:
My son, “Ross Ulbrecht” is a first-time criminal serving a double life prison sentence without parole, plus 40 years, because of a website he set up when he was 26 years old.He was passionate about duty free shopping and privacy at the time.
The "Silk Road" store founded by "Ulbrecht" used the "Tor" network to conceal the identities of users while they were using cryptocurrencies to buy illegal goods.
The “Silk Road” site was the first market for illegal drugs and narcotics, after that it was followed by many similar sites.
Read also: