SPY SCANDAL
Snowden Won’t Face Death Penalty; His Father Blasts ‘Complicit’ Congressmembers
THE INTERNATIONAL CAT-AND-MOUSE CHASE FOR Edward Snowden continues, with the the U.S. claiming it won’t seek the death penalty against the whistleblower, while the former NSA analyst’s father blasted the government on the Today Show.
In a letter to Russia’s Alexander Vladimirovich Konovalov, Eric Holder asserted that Snowden’s argument for asylum “are entirely without merit.”
“First, the United States would not seek the death penalty for Mr. Snowden should he return to the United States. The charges he faces do not carry that possibility, and the United States would not seek the death penalty even if Mr. Snowden were charged with additional, death penalty-eligible crimes,” Mr. Holder wrote.
Meanwhile, Snowden’s father Lon seemed more informed on the political goings-on involving his son while visiting the Today show, thanking WikiLeaks for its support rather than questioning the group’s involvement in his son’s asylum attempts.
He said he has complete confidence that his son is telling the truth about the U.S. spying on citizens, and he expressed rage at Congress.
“There has been a concerted effort by many of these congressmen to demonize my son, to focus the issue on my son and not to talk about the fact that they had a responsibility to ensure that these programs were constitutional,” he said. “They’ve either been complicit or negligent.”
He argued that Congress supports the secret programs to “drive up massive profits for companies like Booz Allen Hamilton (because they’re vital to our national security) . . . It’s all about the money.”
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