{"id":96356,"date":"2018-03-12T19:51:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T23:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=96356"},"modified":"2018-03-12T19:51:18","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T23:51:18","slug":"trump-pardons-a-patriot-bashes-clinton-double-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=96356","title":{"rendered":"Trump pardons a patriot, bashes Clinton double standard"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Trump pardons former Navy sailor imprisoned for taking photos on nuclear submarine, White House says<\/h2>\n<p><!--more-->Elizabeth Llorente<br \/>\nBy Elizabeth Llorente | Fox News<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/video.foxnews.com\/v\/embed.js?id=5725594515001&#038;w=466&#038;h=263\"><\/script><noscript>Watch the latest video at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\">foxnews.com<\/a><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Kristian Saucier, the former U.S. Navy sailor who served a year behind bars for taking photos of classified areas in a nuclear submarine, has been pardoned, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Saucier recently received a letter from the Department of Justice saying it was taking a new look at his request for a pardon. Although he was released from jail last year, he remained under house arrest.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline image-ct\">\n<div class=\"m\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/images.foxnews.com\/content\/fox-news\/politics\/2018\/03\/09\/trump-pardons-former-navy-sailor-imprisoned-for-taking-photos-on-nuclear-submarine-white-house-says\/_jcr_content\/article-text\/article-par-2\/inline_spotlight_ima\/image.img.jpg\/612\/344\/1520644620655.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1\" alt=\"trump\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>President Trump had denounced the government\u2019s handling of Saucier\u2019s case, calling it a political move and saying it contrasted with the velvet-gloved response to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton\u2019s mismanagement of classified information through a private server.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The president has pardoned Kristian Saucier, a Navy submariner,\u201d Sanders said in a press briefing Friday afternoon. \u201cMr. Saucier was 22 years old at the time of his offenses and has served out his 12-months sentence. He has been recognized by his fellow service members for his dedication, skill and patriotic spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile serving, he regularly mentored younger sailors and served as an instructor for new recruits. The sentencing judge found that Mr. Saucier&#8217;s offense stands in contrast to his commendable military service. The president is appreciative of Mr. Saucier&#8217;s service to the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Saucier told Fox News that he couldn\u2019t believe the pardon had finally come through until his wife emailed a picture of the document signed by Trump, who also called him Friday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline image-ct\">\n<div class=\"m\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/images.foxnews.com\/content\/fox-news\/politics\/2018\/03\/09\/trump-pardons-former-navy-sailor-imprisoned-for-taking-photos-on-nuclear-submarine-white-house-says\/_jcr_content\/article-text\/article-par-6\/inline_spotlight_ima\/image.img.jpg\/612\/344\/1520625189220.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1\" alt=\"Saucier family.jpg\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Saucier said he feels liberated from the stigma of being a felon, and from the many limitations of house arrest, which precluded him from leaving the state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel I can hope for the future now,\u201d Saucier said. \u201cI can live a normal life. I can take my daughter to different places, I can do all these things with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of his priorities is to see his 94-year-old grandfather, who lives in Connecticut. Saucier said it pained him that he could not see his grandmother in Connecticut before she died.<\/p>\n<p>Saucier repeatedly said he recognized that he had made a mistake when he took the photographs to show his family the setting in which he worked. He maintained, though, that the treatment of him by federal authorities was overzealous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thanked the president for helping my family get our lives back,&#8221; he said, referring to the call from Trump he received Friday night. &#8220;He\u2019s got so much to do and to take the time to do something about this and to call me, it\u2019s just amazing. I\u2019m so overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI fought so hard in the military for our freedom, I spent 11 years defending our freedom,\u201d Saucier said. \u201cI\u2019m thankful that I will be able to have those freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, his lawyer, Ronald Daigle, said the next step is to have Saucier\u2019s discharge upgraded to honorable, and have his military benefits restored.<\/p>\n<p>Saucier, who served as a machinist&#8217;s mate aboard the USS Alexandria from 2007 to 2012, used his cellphone to photograph parts of the submarine&#8217;s nuclear propulsion system while it was docked at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn.<\/p>\n<p>Saucier, who has a 2-year-old daughter, began his sentence in October 2016 at the Federal Medical Center at Fort Devens, Mass. He was released a year later, though he was placed under house arrest.<\/p>\n<p>He was convicted of unauthorized retention of national defense information, which is a felony, and received an &#8220;other-than-honorable&#8221; discharge from the Navy. He faced a possible 10 years in jail, his lawyers said.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2018\/03\/09\/trump-pardons-former-navy-sailor-imprisoned-for-taking-photos-on-nuclear-submarine-white-house-says.html\">http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2018\/03\/09\/trump-pardons-former-navy-sailor-imprisoned-for-taking-photos-on-nuclear-submarine-white-house-says.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump pardons former Navy sailor imprisoned for taking photos on nuclear submarine, White House says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}