During a heated exchange on CNN’s The Lead, Guardian columnist and Edward Snowden ally Glenn Greenwald claimed that should Snowden return to the United States, the Obama administration would make him "disappear in prison" and "not allow him to speak".
Saying that the U.S. government does not allow whistleblowers as in previous years, Greenwald claimed, "If Snowden came back to Washington before he was convicted of anything, he would disappear in prison and not be allowed to speak."
Greenwald, who spent most of the interview berating fellow guest and Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, saying her argument exemplified "everything that’s horrible about the D.C. media," and that "people in Washington […] do not believe the law applies to them." Greenwald also repeatedly and loudly demanded Marcus to answer whether National Intelligence Director James Clapper should be prosecuted for his testimony before Congress.
Marcus, who recently blasted Snowden as the "insufferable whistleblower," responded that Greenwald should "talk about Edward Snowden instead of calling people names and making accusations."
Greenwald did not answer why Snowden chose to seek asylum in Russia, Ecuador, Cuba, and Venezuela, all countries with long histories of civil rights abuses.
The full interview is available below: