Edward Snowden is in exile in Russia for revealing government secrets. While he has asylum there now, Russia might offer to extradite Snowden to the United States for certain concessions by President Elect Donald Trump, whose connections to Vladimir Putin are unknown. Regardless of the legality of Snowden's crimes, granting him a full pardon now would remove the threat of Trump giving Russia an extraordinary free hand in any number of ways in exchange for a tempting trophy Trump could exploit for domestic political gains.



