Since leaving office April 27, 64-year-old former Atty. Gen. Eric Holder has changed his tune about National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. Once considered a traitor by Holder who charged Snowden with three felonies in 2013 for violating the U.S. Espionage Act, Holder flip-flopped. Snowden worked as a “hacker” for National Security Agency contractor Booz-Allen Hamilton before deciding in 2013 to leak damaging data on the NSA’s clandestine surveillance practices. Holder showed little sympathy when he brought charges against Snowden after he fled the country May 20, 2013, evading the CIA running from Hawaii to Hong Kong, eventually finding his way to Moscow. Snowden allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to use him as a pawn in his Cold War against the U.S. Snowden gladly took asylum in Russia, escaping the long arm of American justice.
Snowden’s multi-country flight from U.S. justice cost the government millions seeking his arrest and capture for violating the U.S. Spy Act. Holder’s change of heart shows how insincere the White House was saying they condemned Snowden’s treachery while, at the same time, acknowledged some believed his unlawful leaks were part of a legitimate whistle-blowing campaign. No one at the time of Snowden’s dramatic escape from the U.S. offered him the possibility of a plea deal. Over the last two years, Snowden insisted he’d return to the States only if he could get a “fair trial,” fearing that the Holder would prosecute him with extreme prejudice. “I certainly think there could be a basis for a resolution that everybody could ultimately be satisfied with. I think the possibility exists,” Holder told Yahoo News. Back in January 2014 Holder said he was willing to talk with Snowden’s attorneys.
Snowden’s former attorney Ben Wisner said Holder’s change of heart was a positive sign for the 32-year-old college-drop-out-turned CIA and NSA hacker. “The former attorney general’s recognition that Snowden’s actions led to meaningful changes is welcome,” said Wisner. “This is significant . . . I don’t think we’ve seen this kin of respect from anybody at a Cabinet level before,” said Wisner, not sure how to advise his former client. Before Snowden or his family jumps too far ahead, it’s well to remember that Holder’s a private citizen, working for his former Washington law firm Covington & Burling, no longer relevant. Showing more flexibility with Snowden today shows the extent to which Holder politicized the Snowden affair back in 2013. When Snowden fled May 23, 2013 Moscow, Putin eventually granted him temporary asylum July 1, 2013 to stick it to the Obama’s White House.
Snowden had no business in Moscow’s nefarious ex-pat community, fleeing to Russia as a last-ditch refuge. Snowden put out 21 requests for asylum in countries with known hostilities to the U.S., including Bolivia and Cuba. Much to Edward’s disappointment, only Putin answered his prayers, in part because U.S.-Russian relations were in a downward spiral. Vice President Joe Biden practically stood on his head discouraging Snowden’s numerous asylum requests to foreign states. No one in the White House—including Holder—dared to consider anything other than prosecuting the 29-year-old NSA leaker to the fullest extent of the law. Heaping pressure on newly minted AG Loretta Lynch, Holder hoped the Justice Department would give Snowden a second chance. Showing leniency on Snowden would instantly become a cause célèbre for the GOP’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Lynch apparently took her cues well from the White House, dismissing Holder’s personal suggestions. “This is an ongoing case so I am not going to get into specific details but I can say our position regarding bringing Edward Snowden back to the United States of Face charges has not changed,” Lynch said in an email. Showing any change of heart would make Hillary’s 2016 work that much more difficult. Whether or not you despised or admired Snowden’s actions, he’s a fugitive from U.S. Justice, proving, if nothing else, guilt by reason of flight. U.S. intelligence counsel Robert Litt to Homeland Security Chief James Clapper suggested that the NSA might be open to Snowden returning the U.S. to plead guilty to one felony count for which he’d receive 3-5 years in federal prison. Snowden’s attorney rejected any plea deal short of Snowden getting off the hook.
Snowden’s violations of the U.S. Espionage Act spoke volumes about his opportunism, more than any loyalty to human rights or civil liberties. Getting the backing of U.K-based Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch or Julian Assange’s Austrailian-based Wikileaks doesn’t prove that Snowden was a so-called whistleblower, over his criminal violations of he U.S. Spy Act. Saying Snowden’s unlawful disclosures of classified U.S. data “was the greatest hemorrhaging of legitimate America secrets in the history of the republic, no question about it,” former George W. Bush administration CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden showed no sympathy. Whatever benefit or damage to U.S. national security, Snowden’s charged a three-time felon violation the Espionage Act. All of Snowden’s exculpatory excuses vaporized the day he fled the U.S. for Russia.
