The Guardian reporter at the center of the NSA surveillance story responded to Rep. Pete King on Wednesday, who earlier called for legal action against him for publishing classified information provided by NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
“We did not want to just go and arbitrarily disclose things for the sake of harming the United States,” Glenn Greenwald told the Washington Post in an interivew. “[Edward Snowden] wanted to trigger a debate and inform people. Given that he has access to incredible amounts of top secret information, if his intent at all were to harm the U.S., he could have disclosed enormous amounts of info that would have endangered his intentions, and his actions prove that.”
Although he does not expect to face prosecution, Greenwald said he has spoken to lawyers to represent him in case he needs one and that “it would be irrational for me to dismiss the possibility.”
Greenwald also brushed off King’s threat.
“It’s not going to deter me or limit me or constrain me in any way from exercising my core First Amendment rights,” he said.
