14 DAY TRIAL // It’s no secret that some U.S. lawmakers are set against Edward Snowden, but House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers might just be the one who takes the lead. In an interview aired this weekend, he said that Snowden was a traitor and that he would personally pay for his plane ticket home.
“Here's where I think he's crossed the line now, George [Stephanopoulos], he has contacted a foreign country and said, ‘I will sell you classified information for something of value.’ That's what we call a traitor in this country,” Rogers said, referring to a letter that the whistleblower sent Brazil last week.
The problem with his statement is that it is inaccurate. Snowden has indeed offered to help Brazil, as well as any other country, with their investigations in the NSA surveillance practices. He also mentioned the word asylum in his letter, but he wasn’t asking for it.
“I have expressed my willingness to assist wherever appropriate and lawful, but unfortunately the United States government has worked very hard to limit my ability to do so --going so far as to force down the Presidential Plane of Evo Morales to prevent me from traveling to Latin America. Until a country grants permanent political asylum, the US government will continue to interfere with my ability to speak,” Snowden wrote, in an exact quote.
Unlike what Rogers and many others keep saying, the whistleblower doesn’t condition his help on being granted political asylum in Brazil or any other nation. Furthermore, Snowden has pending asylum requests in Brazil and dozens of other countries, which were sent out months ago, before Russia granted him temporary protection at the end of July.
So, the question remains whether Mike Rogers was willingly trying to discredit Snowden or he really didn't even read the letter and only based his statement on erroneous reports.