In a letter dated July 23, Attorney General Eric Holder assured his counterpart in Russia, that there is no basis for the country to grant temporary asylum to Eric Snowden, since he will not be tortured or killed when he returns to the U.S.
America's top prosecutor has promised Russian officials that the U.S. would not torture Edward Snowden, nor would it seek the death penalty for the former National Security Agency contractor should he be handed over to U.S. custody.http://abcnews.go.com/..."We… understand from press reports that Mr. Snowden has filed papers seeking temporary asylum in Russia on the grounds that if he were returned to the United States, he would be tortured and would face the death penalty," Attorney General Eric Holder wrote in a letter to his Russian counterparts today. "These claims are entirely without merit."
As for the death penalty, Holder wrote that the espionage-related charges Snowden faces "do not carry that possibility, and the United States would not seek the death penalty even if Mr. Snowden were charged with additional death penalty-eligible crimes." Holder also wrote that torture is "unlawful in the United States."
Holder said that Snowden would be provided all the protections the law provides, should he return to face the charges against him.
"We believe that these assurances eliminate these asserted grounds for Mr. Snowden's claim that he should be treated as a refugee or granted asylum, temporary or otherwise," Holder said.
Here is a link to the full text of Eric Holder's letter.
After returning to the United States, Edward Snowden will face a minimum of 30 years in prison for theft of government property, "unauthorized communication of national defense information" and "willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person."
While the U.S. isn't eager for any more classified information to be disclosed, there's little chance Snowden will be able to use what he has as a bargaining chip to negotiate his prosecution or extradition. That's because giving into threats would risk opening the door for others to take similar action in the future.http://abcnews.go.com/...The government must take the position: "We don't negotiate with extortionists," said Michael Chertoff, the former head of the Justice Department's criminal division and former secretary of homeland security. Chertoff said he can't recall a case in which the U.S. government has caved under this type of threat.
"I'm betting that there is virtually nothing that Snowden could do or threaten to persuade the (U.S. government) not to prosecute," said Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor who was on the team that prosecuted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the Bush administration official who revealed the name of a CIA officer. Zeidenberg said doing so would send a damaging message from the U.S.: "If you are going to steal secrets, get the crown jewels; that way, the government will never dare to prosecute.
Graymailhttp://abcnews.go.com/..."If the Obama administration responds with an even harsher hand against me, they can be assured that they'll soon find themselves facing an equally harsh public response," Snowden said in a June 17 online question-and-answer forum.[...]
Mark Zaid, an attorney who has represented people charged with espionage, said these threats...are a form of graymail, a tactic in which defendants charged with spying try to force the government to drop the charges by threatening to expose U.S. secrets on the witness stand.
Zaid said every time Snowden releases more documents it could create additional criminal charges. Zaid is not working on Snowden's defense and hasn't been contacted by the leaker. But if he were representing Snowden, Zaid said, "I'd tell him to shut up" and accept the marriage proposal from Russian spy Anna Chapman. On July 3, the attractive redhead who was swept up with nine other sleeper agents and deported from the U.S. in 2010 tweeted, "Snowden, will you marry me?"
"The only thing really he's got now is either minimize the penalties going forward or work out some favorable resolution he's comfortable with somewhere in the world," Zaid said of Snowden.