Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised to pardon Edward Snowden on his first day in office.

Snowden was an employee of National Security Agency contractor Booz Allen Hamilton who in 2013 provided classified materials to multiple journalists that detailed government surveillance efforts. He is currently in exile in Russia.

"Edward Snowden performed a critical public service by revealing to Americans for the first time that our government had been spying on million of us, of law-abiding American citizens in violation of numerous laws and of our fundamental right to privacy," he stated in a video posted to X on Monday. 

"Prior to Edward Snowden, nobody knew that the intelligence agencies were illegally mining all of our data and spying on American citizens," he went on. "So, it's not surprising that those same intelligence agencies are trying to portray Snowden as a criminal and that captive politicians are supporting that narrative."

"In fact, Edward Snowden is an American hero. Instead of jailing Snowden, I'm going to build a statue to him and maybe to Julian Assange somewhere near the Washington Press Club or perhaps outside the CIA headquarters in Langley as a civics lesson to the Republic," he further declared.

The remainder of Kennedy's video included statements from former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump condemning Snowden. He further asked viewers to sign a petition calling for his immediate pardon.

Please SIGN THIS PETITION to intensify the spotlight on Edward Snowden’s case and exert pressure on the Biden administration to pardon him.

SIGN NOW ➡️ https://t.co/u0v5wv0yYU

Snowden, who has been in exile for more than a decade, performed a critical public service by… pic.twitter.com/rjNhgHj8rc

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) April 1, 2024

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.