Lawrence O'Donnell: Edward Snowden's Christmas Message Was 'Wildly Overblown,' 'Provably Untrue'

[ljm2002]

208. You claimed...

...that Snowden "has invaded the privacy of US citizens". That if we are so worried about the NSA, then we should be worried about Snowden. Never mind that, IF he does have such data, he has it BECAUSE THE NSA HAS IT.

Anyway. I assume you are not one of those people here who made fun of Snowden because "all he has is Powerpoint slides". Nor are you one of those people who said "It's only metadata, what's the big deal?" And surely you are not one of those who claim we already knew all of that stuff, so, you know, shrug.

You say "He also claimed to have access to the Whitehouse (sic) from his position, and indicated he could wiretap at will but this has been refuted". It has not been refuted. It has been questioned, and people have made statements one way or the other. Some have supported his contention, pointing out that IF he knew a phone number or email associated with the President, that he could plug that information into the software that runs checks, and the surveillance would occur automatically.

You say "Any information he has gleemed whether or not he has released is criminal." Yes, we've already been over that. He broke the law. But then again, the NSA has also broken the law (*). Do they get a pass?

(*)
1 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-broke-privacy-rules-thousands-of-times-per-year-audit-finds/2013/08/15/3310e554-05ca-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds

(cites 2,776 "incidents" or violations of the rules or court orders for surveillance (...) from April 2011 through March 2012

2 - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/nsa-fisa-court-opinion_n_4311787.html

A Secret Court Judge Warned The NSA It Was Close To Breaking The Law -- Then Gave It More Power

The top judge on the secret court that oversees the National Security Agency's surveillance activities in 2010 warned the agency that it could face criminal sanctions if it tried to make use of information it had collected without the necessary court authorization.

3 - and of course, who could forget Clapper lying bald faced to Congress -- which is, get ready for it: ILLEGAL