Post by warrior1972 on Jul 7, 2015 16:53:08 GMT -8
Washington (CNN)—The Justice Department continues to insist that Edward Snowden would face criminal prosecution were he to return to the U.S., even as former Attorney General Eric Holder said the former National Security Agency contractor "spurred a necessary debate" over government spying techniques, Obama administration officials said Tuesday.
On Monday, Holder generated headlines when he told Yahoo News that the "possibility exists" for the DOJ to cut a deal that would allow Snowden to return to the United States, although U.S. authorities have long said they would be open to a plea deal with him.
Holder also said Snowden's disclosures "spurred a necessary debate" about the program to collect in bulk phone records on tens of millions of Americans, which was curtailed last month when Congress passed a law requiring the U.S. government to obtain a warrant in order to get phone metadata from telecommunications companies.
Snowden remains in exile in Moscow. Last year, Holder said at an event at the University of Virginia's Miller Center that "clemency isn't something that we (are) willing to consider" in the case. In March, Anatoly Kucherena, an attorney for Snowden, said the former contractor had received a guarantee from Holder that he will not face the death penalty, and added that Snowden also wanted a guarantee of a "legal and impartial trial."
us.cnn.com/2015/07/07/politics/eric-holder-edward-snowden/index.html
God, it's SUCH a good thing that they didn't ask me for my opinion on this....
