It takes one to know one.
Eric Holder, former attorney general under Barack Obama, said in a recent interview that Edward Snowden performed a “public service” when he leaked U.S. intelligence surveillance capabilities.
In an interview with David Axelrod on “The Axe Files” podcast, Holder said, “We had the capacity to do a whole range of things under these listening programs, but after a while, I remember sending memos to the president and asking, ‘Do we really need to do this, given the way in which we are focusing on people’s lives and given the return that we were getting?’ Which was not, I think in any ways substantial.”
“We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did, but I think that he actually performed a public service by raising the debate that we engaged in and by the changes that we made.”
A chat between David Axelrod and Eric Holder is the dictionary definition of a snakepit. But I'm really glad to see that the former Attorney General of the United States is endorsing the strategic leaks (and they were extremely strategic) by a Russian spy targeting the United States and some of its allies with the aim of furthering Russian geopolitical interests.
We used to call that treason, but under Obama it's now a public service.
And Holder has a point. If we're going to pretend that Obama and Holder are public servants, rather than traitors, why not pretend that Snowden, who did less damage to America than Holder or Obama is anything but a public servant, unjustly forced to hide out with his Russian bosses instead of getting a plum administration post.
Maybe if Bernie wins.