Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.) defended the actions of the National Security Agency Sunday on Meet The Press, castigating people on the Left and some within his own party for backing Edward Snowden's leaks.
"It bothers the hell out of me that people in my own party such as Rand Paul, Justin Amash, people on the left, come together and somehow try to exult Snowden," King said.
He also said the U.S. and President Obama shouldn't be on the defensive about the NSA, urging Obama to "stand with" the organization:
DAVID GREGORY: But it's deep. We were apparently bugging Angela Merkel's phone from the time that she was an opposition leader in Germany back in 2002. Again, I understand why this is done. I cover these issues, but I think a lot of people watching us right now are thinking, what is it we're doing? You mentioned the Hamburg plot. We share intelligence with Germany. They're allies in this fight, not someone to be looked at so skeptically.
PETER KING: First of all, we do share intelligence and we've saved many lives in Germany because of the intelligence we've given them. We're not doing this to hurt Germany, but the fact is there can be information that's being transmitted that can be useful to us and ultimately useful to Germany. I think, again, this is out there. Snowden put it out there, and it bothers the hell out of me that people in my own party such as Rand Paul, Justin Amash, people on the left, come together and somehow they try to exult Snowden. This guy is causing tremendous damage to the country, and again we shouldn't be on defense. I think the president -- quite frankly, the NSA has done so much for our country and so much to help this president in his term. He should be out there. He's the Commander-in-Chief. He should stand with NSA. He should go out and visit Fort Meade and be there with General Alexander and the troops there.