Kristian Saucier, the former U.S. Navy sailor who served one year in prison for taking photos of classified areas inside a nuclear submarine, has been pardoned, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday.

http://www.foxnews.com/politic...hite-house-says.html

Yes!!!

Nothing yet in https://www.navytimes.com/ but this has a few more details:

https://www.washingtonpost.com...m_term=.10576b763c4d

Trump pardons Navy man who took illegal submarine photos

By Ken Thomas | AP March 9 at 3:02 PM

WASHINGTON — The White House says President Donald Trump has pardoned a Navy sailor who took photos of classified areas inside a submarine and served a year in federal prison.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Kristian Saucier was pardoned by Trump and said the president was “appreciative” of his service to the country.

Sanders says Saucier had been recognized by service members “for his dedication, skill and patriotic spirit.”

The sailor pleaded guilty in 2016 to unauthorized detention of defense information for taking photos inside the USS Alexandria while it was stationed in Groton, Connecticut, in 2009.

Saucier argued that his prosecution was driven by sensitivity about classified information amid the scandal involving Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails.


Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.

Excellent. If you are not going to apply these laws equally, low level violations like this should not be prosecuted. Apply to all or take them off the books.

Ummm...why is this a good thing?

He was a machinist working in the engine room; he took pictures of the propulsion system.

He attempted to hide the evidence.

Why should he be pardoned? With the way some in our military play fast-and-lose with classified info, I'm having a hard time finding any sympathy for this guy.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Ummm...why is this a good thing?

He was a machinist working in the engine room; he took pictures of the propulsion system.

He attempted to hide the evidence.

Why should he be pardoned? With the way some in our military play fast-and-lose with classified info, I'm having a hard time finding any sympathy for this guy.

See my post above. Is there any evidence the photo damaged national security?

If not, then you can't enforce a law for low level people and have separate laws for high level people.

Either the laws apply equally or they need to be taken off the books.

Ideally, they would be applied equally. This guy was briefed, he knew the rules so he should be punished. But, if you are not holding everyone in the system to that standard, then it's selective prosecution and should be done away with.

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
Excellent. If you are not going to apply these laws equally, low level violations like this should not be prosecuted. Apply to all or take them off the books.

Exactly.

More info here:

http://www.washingtonexaminer....ures/article/2651195

Trump pardons Kristian Saucier, former sailor jailed for submarine pictures

by Steven Nelson | Mar 9, 2018, 2:34 PM

President Trump issued the second pardon of his presidency Friday to former Navy sailor Kristian Saucier, who learned the news while driving a garbage truck, the only job he could find with a felony conviction.

Saucier was sentenced to a year in prison during the 2016 campaign for taking pictures inside a nuclear submarine. Trump invoked his case repeatedly on the campaign trail, saying he was “ruined” for doing “nothing” compared to Hillary Clinton.

Still, Trump allowed Saucier to serve his full prison sentence. He was released in September and returned to the Vermont home he shared with his wife Sadie and their two-year-old daughter.

Saucier, now 31, was 22 years old when he took the cellphone photos in 2009. He pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized possession and retention of national defense information and his attorneys unsuccessfully requested the "Clinton deal," meaning little if any punishment.

The six photos found on a cellphone Saucier discarded were deemed “confidential,” meaning the lowest level of classification, even though some depicted the vessel’s nuclear reactor. Clinton, by contrast, sent and received more highly classified information on a private and insecure email server. In pleading guilty, Saucier admitted to destroying evidence after being questioned.

Saucier told the Washington Examiner earlier this year that a felony conviction made it hard to find work. He works as a garbage man to support his family. While in prison, the family's cars were repossessed and his home is in foreclosure.

“We’re struggling,” Saucier said in January, describing frequent calls from credit card debt collectors and an electricity bill payment plan. “No one will hire me because I’m a felon ... All the skills I worked so hard for in the military are useless.”

Before the pardon, Saucier had several months left of wearing an ankle monitor.

"When Kris gets home from work, when he gets to the door, I'm going to be a little emotional," Sadie Saucier told the Washington Examiner. "I can't believe it happened, I don't think it's set in yet."

Sadie Saucier said she notified her husband of the pardon via text message as he drove his garbage truck through a mountainous area with poor reception.

"I just was able to say 'Hey' via a text message, 'You got a pardon.' All he said was, 'What!' with a big exclamation point," she said.

"I am very grateful," Sadie Saucier said. "It's going to be a huge for our family. And a huge reality when probation calls and the ankle monitor is taken off, that's going to be a big one."

Hints of movement on Saucier's case came last week, when his attorney Ronald Daigle told media outlets, including the Washington Examiner, that the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney requested additional personal details about Saucier, after initially refusing to process his pardon request last year, citing a standard five-year waiting period following sentencing.

Trump has only used his constitutional clemency power twice before.

Trump gave his first pardon in August to political ally and anti-illegal immigration hardliner Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., who was awaiting sentencing for criminal contempt for allegedly ignoring a federal judge's order. Trump's other use of clemency came in December, when he gave a prison commutation to Sholom Rubashkin, a kosher meatpacking executive whose fraud conviction was decried as unjust by many former government officials. Rubashkin's crime was discovered after his business was busted employing nearly 400 illegal immigrants in a single work shift.

Excellent news. This means there is now a free cell open for someone who knowingly and intentionally violated U.S. law while compromising secure information and lying about it...now, who to put in there?

Right now I'd settle for just one year for Clinton.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Ummm...why is this a good thing?

He was a machinist working in the engine room; he took pictures of the propulsion system.

He attempted to hide the evidence.

Why should he be pardoned? With the way some in our military play fast-and-lose with classified info, I'm having a hard time finding any sympathy for this guy.

Dude. Did you live under a rock in all of 2016?

The guy did his time, now Trump is making his point that Hillary did far worse and had SHIT done to her, but we put low level guys in prison for a couple of smart phone pics?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Ummm...why is this a good thing?

He was a machinist working in the engine room; he took pictures of the propulsion system.

He attempted to hide the evidence.

Why should he be pardoned? With the way some in our military play fast-and-lose with classified info, I'm having a hard time finding any sympathy for this guy.

Dude. Did you live under a rock in all of 2016?

The guy did his time, now Trump is making his point that Hillary did far worse and had SHIT done to her, but we put low level guys in prison for a couple of smart phone pics?

1. No, I did not live under a rock all of 2016. Why would you even ask me that? Because I asked question from a point of not understanding? Or is that I did not immediately agree with your conclusion so that means I must be completely disconnected from what is happening in the world? I'd like to think that my contributions to conversations in this forum have netted me at least some benefit of the doubt.

2. To me it is more than simple smart phone pics. With everyone carrying around cameras in their pockets, espionage is more concerning to me than ever. I cannot control what happens to Hilary, are we saying that because of what 'did not' happen to Hilary other folks should be able to get their records cleaned?

Good. None of the photos approached "FOUO" or "Classified"

Lots of people still think pics taken inside of a tank are "classified"; they are not. About the only thing still classed on an Abrams is the frontal armor or the comm system. You can take pics all day long.

Again, good.

Bravo Zulu!

I'm good with this. Clinton apparently wasn't even prosecuted because she supposedly had no "intent" even though, as a high ranking official, she was extensively briefed on proper handling of classified materials. If not having intent is the standard then this sailor should never had gone to jail.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Reality Winner (Dumbest name ever) when she finally goes to trial. Was scheduled for March, but now pushed back with no date set.

quote:

Originally posted by NavyGuy:

It will be interesting to see what happens to Reality Winner (Dumbest name ever) when she finally goes to trial. Was scheduled for March, but now pushed back with no date set.

This.....She had clearly identified intentions of what she did with the data she had access to. No pardon for that cunt.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
I cannot control what happens to Hilary, are we saying that because of what 'did not' happen to Hilary other folks should be able to get their records cleaned?

I can't speak for others, but what I am saying is that if you are not going to apply the law equally, then yes - lower level people should have their records expunged.

Now, if someone is actively spying and you can prove damage was done - hang 'em high.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Ummm...why is this a good thing?

He was a machinist working in the engine room; he took pictures of the propulsion system.

He attempted to hide the evidence.

Why should he be pardoned? With the way some in our military play fast-and-lose with classified info, I'm having a hard time finding any sympathy for this guy.

I think I understand what you're saying. At first, I couldn't understand the motivation. Especially when I find out he's a nuke, how the F could he not know taking pictures is verbotem? But, on the other hand, he did say he was taking souvenir pictures. With his training, I would think he knows enough not to have taken pictures of the sensitive things in the engineroom that gives us a competitive advantage over other countries' submarine.

And he did pay his time. If there really was malfeasance, he wouldn't have received the discharge he got; more like dishonorable. It does sound like it was a political issue that rolled down and he was on the receiving end.

And knowing he's the second pardon of Trump and the sheriff was the first, that makes me respect Trump more. Better them than some hard to pronounce mafeya koufa who's the darling of liberals clamoring for his release.

Thank you guys. I think I get the 'why behind the what'...appreciate you taking the time to spell it out.

From what I can remember, the pictures were taken so he could show his family what he was working on at the time and the pictures weren't circulated after the phone was replaced.

I don't think the pictures would be labelled Special Access Programs or Super Duper Mega Ultra Giga Top Secret like the stuff on Wieners laptop or what the Queen Hildabeest passed around with gross negligence.

Because... Hillary

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Ummm...why is this a good thing?

He was a machinist working in the engine room; he took pictures of the propulsion system.

He attempted to hide the evidence.

Why should he be pardoned? With the way some in our military play fast-and-lose with classified info, I'm having a hard time finding any sympathy for this guy.