Edward Snowden: US has not offered me plea deal
Source: The Guardian
Edward Snowden: US has not offered me plea deal
Ewen MacAskill
Monday 5 October 2015 17.01 BST
The US justice department has made no effort to contact Edward Snowden to discuss a plea deal that would see him return from exile in Russia, the NSA whistleblower said in an interview on BBC Panorama to be broadcast on Monday night.
Snowden, who is wanted under the Espionage Act after leaking tens of thousands of top secret documents, said he had offered to do time in prison as part of a deal. We are still waiting for them to call us back, he said.
His comments come just months after Eric Holder, who was US attorney-general until April, said Snowdens revelations had spurred a necessary debate. He also said the possibility exists of a plea deal.
But senior figures in the security services in both the US and UK are unforgiving, wanting him to serve a long sentence both as punishment and to act as a deterrent to others.
Former head of the NSA Michael Hayden, asked by Panorama what would happen to Snowden, said: If youre asking me my opinion, hes going to die in Moscow. Hes not coming home.
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Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/05/edward-snowden-us-has-not-offered-me-plea-deal