United States

Edward Snowden ‘Performed a Public Service': Former AG

Snowden leaked documents about government surveillance programs while working as a contractor in 2013

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Edward Snowden performed a "public service" by leaking National Security Agency documents but should still be punished, NBC News reported.

"We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did, but I think that he actually performed a public service by raising the debate that we engaged in and by the changes that we made," Holder told former White House adviser David Axelrod on an episode of "The Axes Files" podcast Monday.

Holder, however, quickly added that Snowden "harmed American interests" by acting in a way that was "inappropriate and illegal."

Snowden leaked documents about government surveillance programs while working as a contractor in 2013 and is now exiled in Moscow.

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