Snowden's dad's legal team claims Greenwald's shopping a Snowden interview at a 7 figure price.

[pnwmom]

Snowden says the lawyer's not authorized to speak for him.

I don't know how to get past the WSJ payment wall (without paying, of course), so if anyone does it would be interesting to read more of the WSJ article cited here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/edward-snowden-media-misled_n_3764560.html

In an emailed statement to The Huffington Post, Snowden said that neither his father Lon Snowden, his father’s lawyer Bruce Fein, nor Fein's wife and spokeswoman Mattie Fein “represent me in any way.”

“None of them have been or are involved in my current situation, and this will not change in the future,” Snowden said of his father and the Feins. “I ask journalists to understand that they do not possess any special knowledge regarding my situation or future plans, and not to exploit the tragic vacuum of my father's emotional compromise for the sake of tabloid news.”

Mattie Fein told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that Lon Snowden’s legal team doesn’t trust Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, the journalist at the center of the NSA story, or WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organization that has advised Snowden in Russia. Fein also claimed Greenwald was trying to shop around an exclusive interview with Snowden for seven figures. Greenwald told the Journal Fein's claim was "defamatory."

SNIP

“I've been fortunate to have legal advice from an international team of some of the finest lawyers in the world, and to work with journalists whose integrity and courage are beyond question,” Snowden said. “There is no conflict amongst myself and any of the individuals or organizations with whom I have been involved.”

[phleshdef]

1. Oh great, Snowden and Greenwald are gonna end up turning on each other.

[Skraxx]

6. To Be Honest, I've Been Enjoying the Spectacle

And it seems about to escalate. Joy!

[struggle4progress]

2. There sure are a lotta folk hoping to earn limelight or $$$ from Snowden's folly

[Whisp]

3. 7 Figure GG.

Come on, the defenders have to start thinking about GG's, ahem, loyalities about now, no?

I mean really, if GG was about transparency and saving the world from the NSA, why does he need that kind of money for a favour to humankind and their privates?

[ucrdem]

4. Julian and GG adjust their ascots in the green room while Snowball and Manning circle the drain.

This has been going on for a while. At least Snowden's family seems to be catching on.

[Skraxx]

5. Oh The Humanity!

[BeyondGeography]

7. Shocked, shocked that there is profiteering going on in here

&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[burnodo]

8. well, he's been chased out of his own country

he needs some serious scrilla

[madrchsod]

9. greenwald has no credibility at all.

he`s used snowden for his own personal gain. he or one of his supporters may have fabricated a story about the unnamed brazilian politician offering him "protection" from the united states. whatever the case maybe,he has owned up to the story.

[MjolnirTime]

10. Greenwald's true colors come shining through...

Surprise! It's not about Liberty. It's about Green!

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Snowden: Media has been 'misled' about my situation

Snowden: Media has been 'misled' about my situation

By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News


Fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden said in a statement to The Huffington Post Thursday that media organizations have been misled about his situation by people associated with his father.

"It has come to my attention that news organizations seeking information regarding my current situation have, due to the difficulty in contacting me directly, been misled by individuals associated with my father into printing false claims about my situation," Snowden's statement read. 
His father, Lon Snowden, recently received a Russian visa and plans to travel there to see his son "very soon," the family's lawyer said on Sunday. Lon Snowden told Reuters he has not spoken with his son since he left the United States for Hong Kong in June.

A spokeswoman for Lon Snowden's legal team told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that they don't trust WikiLeaks or Glenn Greenwald, the columnist who worked with the younger Snowden to break the story.

In the statement he released Thursday, Edward Snowden said he is legally represented by "an international team of some of the finest lawyers in the world" — and not by his father or his family's attorney.

More: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/15/20042237-snowden-media-has-been-misled-about-my-situation?lite

[MjolnirTime]

12. Nice try, Traitor Ed. But your motives are clear.

[UTUSN]

13. R#5 & K for, here's a summary of the WSJ from another outlet

*********QUOTE********

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Edward-Snowden-s-Father-Doesn-t-Trust-His-Son-s-4736926.php

[font size=5]Edward Snowden's Father Doesn't Trust His Son's Closest Allies[/font]

Michael Kelley, provided by Business Insider



The father of National Security Agency whistleblower and leaker Edward Snowden does not trust his son's closest allies, according to a new report from Lukas I. Alpert of The Wall Street Journal.

"The thing we have been most concerned about is that the people who have influence over Ed will try to use him for their own means," Mattie Fein, the wife and spokeswoman of Lon Snowden's attorney, told WSJ. "These guys have their own agenda here and we aren't so sure that it has Ed's best interest in mind."

She is referring to Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. ....

WikiLeaks, which facilitated Snowden's travel from Hong Kong to Moscow and provided him with Assange's closest advisor, has been championing Snowden's cause while raising money for Mr. Snowden while also selling Edward Snowden merchandise such as T-shirts and coffee mugs.

Fein told the WSJ that a U.S. TV producer called her and told her that Greenwald had been "shopping around an exclusive interview with Mr. Snowden for seven figures."

Greenwald called the accusation "defamatory" but did tell the WSJ that he had a discussion with NBC about conducting an interview with Snowden and licensing it to them for $50,000.

The American reporter added that Lon Snowden's lawyers "have no connection to Ed" because Snowden "is making all his own choices about who he deals with and who represents him."

Those last two claims are at least questionable. ....

*************

[Whisp]

14. If there was a battle royale here between Snowden and Greenwald, here on DU...

who do you think would have the bigger backup?

Interesting times just up ahead!
I think Snowden will be ditched like a hot potato and Greenwald will get the support if things fall out between the two.

And that's too bad. Because I've felt from the beginning that Snowden is being used.

[UTUSN]

15. Early on I posted that SNOWDEN's data and therefore VALUE is TIME LIMITED

The design of any program or entity worth anything would include contingency plans for potential breaching. So from the second of the breach is known or suspected, damage control should be kicking in, and the stolen data starts deteriorating in value, likewise with the fellow himself, while whatever sanctions kick in INCREASE negatively in whatever negotiations the stakeholders are involved in.

[marions ghost]

16. More spin? I thought this idea was off the table.

I thought a 50K fee was discussed and then the idea has been rejected.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-08-12/lifestyle/41335245_1_edward-snowden-glenn-greenwald-interview

Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald will not do TV interview despite preliminary talks
By Paul Farhi,August 12, 2013

Glenn Greenwald, one of two reporters to disclose the existence of a massive National Security Agency surveillance program, has held preliminary talks with American TV networks to conduct an interview with his chief source, fugitive leaker Edward Snowden.

Greenwald said Monday night that he decided not to do the interview, despite discussing a licensing fee of up to $50,000 for landing an interview with Snowden.

An interview with Snowden would be a major coup for any news outlet, but few journalists have access to the 30-year-old former government contractor, who fled the United States and has been granted asylum in Russia.

--------------

--Snowden's Dad legal team seems to be trying to disparage Greenwald. Looks like Ed is rejecting their "help."

[pnwmom]

17. That's only if you believe Greenwald, instead of the parents' lawyer

who says that a US TV producer told her s/he'd been offered an exclusive interview for 7 figures.

[marions ghost]

19. The father's lawyer seems to have some agenda

in trying to discredit Greenwald. Looks like Ed made it clear that these lawyers don't represent him. That is key. He's running his own life and has chosen who he will trust.

Ed's father was pretty convincing in talking to Stephanopoulos when he said that Ed should "stay in Russia" and would likely be "buried under the capitol" here. So I question how much the father's lawyers (I see no reason to believe his mother is involved)--how much the father's lawyers really can do for the family. I think the senior Snowden wants to help but is perhaps not getting the best advice. He seems to be giving up on attracting his son to come back here.

The truth may come out at some point, but I understood that Greenwald is not doing an interview--and if not, the spreading of these rumors will lose traction. I can't figure out why the lawyers would be doing that. It seems gratuitous, and ultimately, so what? I'm sure the networks would pay big to anyone who could get an interview.

If you have any guesses as to why this meme is being pumped out by Snowden's father's lawyers right now, shoot. It doesn't make sense to me. I can understand why the Snowden haters might pump it out, but not these lawyers. No point in it.

[pnwmom]

20. I think Greenwald and Assange have always had their own agenda.

I believe Snowden was sincerely disturbed by what he found out about US internal surveillance. And I think Greenwald and/or Assange took advantage of that by encouraging him to collect OTHER information about US spying around the world. (The same thing Assange did to Manning when Manning came to him with concerns about the helicopter videos.) Based on previous writings of Snowden on the internet just a few years ago, I doubt he'd been concerned about US spying till they got mixed up with him.

I think this meme (of his being taken advantage of) is being pushed by the parents' lawyers because the parents are genuinely concerned that this is happening. He's extremely articulate and smart, but people who know him (including his parents, if I remember correctly) describe him as naive. I've wondered if it's possible he's somewhere on the autism spectrum -- extremely high functioning. Lots of people working in computers and other tech people are. If he had Aspergers, then he'd have a tendency to think in black and white terms, and a reduced ability to anticipate "normal" people's behavior. I keep reading about how he was shocked about the public reaction to his revelations, and that would fit with an Aspergers' diagnosis. So would be the description of his being naive. Someone else like Greenwald/Assange could manipulate a person like this by appealing to their shared beliefs and painting them as a hero. After a lifetime of being mostly in his room, feeling like an outsider, that's probably an amazing feeling.

[marions ghost]

22. That's just too much tinfoil for me--

for one thing, I don't think this is exactly like the Manning case. And as for Snowden being autistic or Asperger's...he doesn't strike me that way. Maybe, but we really don't know. Lots of parents might defend their kid as "naive" if he did what Ed's done. Pushing the meme of his being taken advantage of by Greenwald might help in his defense, I can see that. But dunno, it's unclear to me exactly why they would continue to do that in the face of Greenwald's rejection of the idea, and since Ed's father seems to think now that fighting the case inside the US would NOT go well for his son. So I wonder what's behind it. It seems lame to me.

I think Ed did what he did out of his own convictions, not under Greenwald's direction. There is also the corroboration of Laura Poitras the documentary journalist (and Barton Gellman of WAPO earlier on). And Ed has others advising him. The fact that he wants not to be associated with the father's lawyers is not particularly surprising.

Thanks for your reasoning. I appreciate other views, rationally expressed. Maybe one day the true story will come out.

[msanthrope]

21. The father's lawyer, Bruce Fein, and Greenwald toured together under the Libertarian banner--

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3471043

[snooper2]

18. so interesting who is NOT replying to this OP

I love DU!

[Octafish]

23. Rupert Murdoch's WSJ? The same Rupert Murdoch whose Fox Nooz helped lie America into war Murdoch?

Shocking: Did Rupert Murdoch Push Tony Blair on Iraq War?

Rupert Murdoch took part in an "over-crude" attempt by US Republicans to push Tony Blair into action before the invasion of Iraq, the former British prime minister's ex-media chief claimed Saturday.

Alastair Campbell said the News Corporation media baron warned Blair in a phone call of the dangers in delaying signing up to the March 19, 2003 invasion, as part of an attempt to speed up Britain joining the military campaign.

SNIP...

"Both TB and I felt it was prompted by Washington, and another example of their over-crude diplomacy. Murdoch was pushing all the Republican buttons, how the longer we waited the harder it got."

The following day he added: "TB felt the Murdoch call was odd, not very clever."

CONTINUED...

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/970894/shocking%3A_did_rupert_murdoch_push_tony_blair_on_iraq_war/

Somehow, as I don't trust the source, I don't believe the story.