Ramaswamy says he would free Snowden, Assange

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Monday he would free former American intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

In an appearance on the Hugh Hewitt podcast, Ramaswamy knocked “two standards of justice,” arguing public officials should also be prosecuted when improper activities or dishonesty are exposed.

“Once we have learned the level of corruption that our government actually has engaged in, and repeatedly lying to the public, in a certain form, it’s a form of selective prosecution to not actually prosecute the government actors who broke the law, but simply to prosecute the one government actor who did expose it by technically violating a law of a different kind,” he said.  

“I think that Edward Snowden, part of what made his acts heroic — and I would go so far as to say that I disagreed with him at the time, but there’s a certain heroism in it at the same time — is that he took a risk that he didn’t have to take in order to actually expose to the public what the public did not already know, and change that would not have happened in terms of delivering accountability to the government if he hadn’t taken that risk,” Ramaswamy said. 

Ramaswamy argued Assange was “a member of a disfavored political class at the time,” contending Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of disclosing classified materials to WikiLeaks, had her sentence commuted in 2017 “because she’s a member of a favored political class” as a transgender woman. 

As a former U.S. intelligence contractor, Snowden leaked classified information about National Security Agency surveillance programs and was charged with espionage. He fled the U.S. in 2013 and was granted Russian citizenship last year after living in Moscow for nearly a decade to avoid U.S. prosecution.

Assange faces more than a dozen counts under the Espionage Act and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion related to his publishing of classified materials. Prosecutors argue Assange, an Australian citizen held in the United Kingdom, helped Manning steal classified materials later published by his WikiLeaks platform. Earlier this month, Assange reportedly lost his appeal against an order to extradite him to the U.S.

During Monday’s interview, Ramaswamy also appeared to liken Snowden’s risk-taking to that of Rosa Parks, who was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, adding that’s “also why I would make sure that [Snowden] was a free man in the United States.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Did you just compare Rosa Parks to Edward Snowden?” host Hugh Hewitt asked. 

“No, I did not, but I did compare the aspect of their willingness to take a risk in order for, at the time, breaking a rule that at the time was punishable,” Ramaswamy said. “It was progress of very different kinds, but yes, did Edward Snowden contribute to us making progress in delivering accountability to a part of the national security establishment that wasn’t previously held accountable? Absolutely, he did.”

The conservative entrepreneur has said he would pardon former President Trump if elected in 2024, as the former president, who is also running for the White House in 2024, faces federal criminal charges for his handling of classified materials.

Ramswamy’s fellow GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie also appeared on Hewitt’s show Monday. Asked about Ramaswamy’s comments on potential pardons or commutations for Assange, Snowden or Ross Ulbricht, who was convicted for his role in creating the platform Silk Road, Christie suggested it’s “immature” to talk about the presidential moves at this point. 

“Look, unlike Vivek, I’ve actually had pardon power. And I take it very seriously. And I would have to look at every one of those cases individually before making a decision if they made an application,” Christie said. 

“But you know, again, this is the kind of immature stuff that we get from him, just throwing red meat out there to try to get attention. And so you know, I don’t want to waste the time I have with you on an interview talking about this kind of stuff,” the former New Jersey governor added.