The two most famous American whistleblowers have requested pardons from outgoing US President Barack Obama in his final days in office.
US whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning asked the soon-to-be-former president for clemency or commutations, according to a report published by Politico on Friday.
The two were reportedly joined by retired Marine Corps General James Cartwright and former CIA officer John Kiriakou, standing in the line for clemency order.
Their requests, as Politico reported, neither meet requirements for clemency under the US Justice Department, nor fall under Obama’s plan to reduce sentences of nonviolent drug offenders sentenced to long terms in federal prisons.
“I think he’s going to announce a lot of names in the next few weeks. I don’t think any of them will be these big-name figures,” Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, told the news publication. “This administration…