Gabbard tries to explain Snowden support to skeptical intel leaders

[Autumn]

5. He was stuck, the US canceled his passport and Russian authorities restricted him

to the airport terminal. His plan was to go to Ecuador . He spent 40 days in the airport and was later given temporary asylum in Russia.

How Edward Snowden ended up in Russia

Whistleblower granted Russian citizenship after almost a decade in exile from the US

https://theweek.com/103363/where-is-edward-snowden-now

What was in the leaks?

They contained previously unpublished details of a major global surveillance apparatus run by the NSA with the help of three partners in the Five Eyes security network – Australia's Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSEC).

Within this framework was a programme known as Prism, which allows for court-approved direct access to the public’s Google and Yahoo accounts without their knowledge. The documents also revealed details of “Tempora”, a British black-ops surveillance programme run by GCHQ.

German news magazine Der Spiegel revealed that the NSA kept a spy database on more than 100 world leaders, including Angela Merkel, the German chancellor at the time.

I think he should be pardoned.