The Hill – by Jeremy Herb“I don’t look at this as being a whistle-blower,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calf.) said. “I think it’s an act of treason.”
The whereabouts of Snowden were unclear Monday as authorities ramped up an investigation that could lead to his extradition and prosecution.
The White House ducked questions about Snowden even as it came under conflicting pressures from across the political spectrum to either prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law or show leniency.
Republican lawmakers urged the Obama administration to extradite Snowden “at the earliest date” possible, after he revealed on Sunday that he was responsible for one of the largest intelligence leaks in U.S. history.
Democrats like Feinstein also said the source behind the leak of the NSA’s Internet and phone surveillance programs must be prosecuted.
“He took an oath — that oath is important,” she said. “He violated the oath, he violated the law. It’s an act of treason in my view.”
Snowden was said to be in Hong Kong when he revealed himself as the source, but on Monday he had checked out of his hotel there, according to reports.
“I hope we follow Mr. Snowden to the ends of the earth to bring him to justice,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted on Monday.
“I would prosecute him,” House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday on Fox News. “If you are a whistle-blower, you don’t leave the United States. You don’t go to a communist country.”
But the White House is also getting pressure from liberals and libertarians who have criticized the NSA’s spying programs and want Snowden to be pardoned.
A petition on the White House’s “We the People” website had generated more than 25,000 signatures in fewer than 24 hours, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee launched a campaign to raise funds for Snowden’s legal team.
“Edward Snowden is a national hero and should be immediately issued a [sic] a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs,” the White House petition states.
If the Snowden petition gathers 100,000 signatures in the next month — a likely outcome — it could garner an official response from the White House.
White House press secretary Jay Carney would not comment Monday on the petition or the investigation into Snowden.
“I won’t comment specifically on an individual or his status. We obviously await a threshold being crossed and that threshold has not been crossed,” Carney said.
The Obama administration also faces a tricky set of political circumstances in the international arena if it seeks to extradite Snowden from Hong Kong.
The United States entered into an extradition treaty in 1998 with Hong Kong, but because it is a “special administrative region” of China, Beijing could potentially intervene.
On Monday, Carney would only say that an investigation into the leak was underway, and he would not comment beyond that.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that the disclosures about surveillance could risk “potentially long-lasting and irreversible harm to our ability to identify and respond to the many threats facing our nation.” His spokesman said Sunday that the intelligence community was “currently reviewing the damage that has been done by these recent disclosures.”
National security experts said they expected the White House would take an aggressive stance toward Snowden in order to deter others from leaking classified information.
“I think the Obama administration has to throw the book at this guy, because if they don’t, it’s an encouragement to other leakers who may do really serious damage,” said Loren Thompson, an analyst at the Lexington Institute.
Gordon Schnell, an attorney at Constantine Cannon who specializes in whistle-blowers and the law, said that going to the press cost Snowden any chance of being protected by laws for whistle-blowers.
“I’m a little baffled why he did it this way, knowing full well he was going to get into a lot of trouble,” he said.
By revealing himself, Snowden also removed a political headache for the Obama administration. Officials at the Justice Department have come under fire for monitoring the communications of reporters in leak investigations and were facing the prospect of having to do so again.
Now the administration likely won’t have to run an investigation into Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald or Washington Post reporter Bart Gellman, according to Robert Chesney, a Brookings Institution analyst and law professor at the University of Texas.
“Harassing [the reporters] would definitely cause pushback,” Chensey said. “They can avoid the sensitive terrain of silencing the press and focus on government employees.”
Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy, said he was concerned that the questions surrounding the implications of NSA programs on privacy would get lost in the push to prosecute — or pardon — Snowden.
“These issues touch on fundamental questions of privacy and on constitutional values, and therefore they are properly in the public domain. They need to be publicly aired,” Aftergood said. “I wish that leaks were not the occasion for this debate.”
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/304635-nsa-leak-is-treason-says-sen-feinstein#ixzz2VuJpm2TY
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If anyone should be arrested for treason, it’s the sleazy war monger and profiteer Feinstein and her money-grubbing hubby.
That commie Jew piece of trash Feinstein also took an oath. String that traitorous waste of breath from the nearest tree of liberty.
Really DeFi you actually said that. Your more stupid then you look. Of all people to say the words treason. Maybe you should look the word up in the dictionary and then look in the mirror. In the reflection you will see a person who has committed treason.
It’s not the whistle-blower that committed treason. The NSA did that, and this repulsive wench is guilty of more crimes than I can count, but still she sits there shoveling the BS to the few people who are still listening to her.
My Fellow Americans:
I can see by the comments, that most still don’t quite understand what has already occurred.
If we expect the gov’t to uphold the Constitution is some way, shape, manner or form,.. then little to none of these events would make sense.
IF however,… you consider the gut wrentching truth,… then it all makes 100% sense.
The Gut Wreching Truth:
1) The US Gov’t has ALREADY been overthrown.
2) This is NOT an American gov’t,.. but an ENEMY FORCE IN OCCUPATION.
Hence for Commie Frakenstein,.. she is correct!,…. anyone that has the audacity to challange (or expose the truth about) the communists in charge is committing treason,.. against the communists!
Congressthing Frankenstein could not be stating it any clearer!,… the communists are in control,.. they run this country,… they are in control of all aspects of “law”.
If we really want to restore the Republic,.. its starts by putting an American Gov’t back in charge, then arresting all the communists both inside and outside the ranks of gov’t,… trials. and large scale public hangings of these communists,.. which at that point time,… can truly be calleed “traitors”, as it will be Americans running the gov’t once again, and the meaning of traitor fully restored as well.
Until we decide it is time to retake this gov’t, purge the communists, banksters, and corporate mafia,… we are simply flapping our jibs in the wind.
JD – US Marines – In ordfer to fix a problem,.. you have to actually be willing to fix the problem.
Ooh f#&%1ng ra Devil dog……ooh f#$%1ng ra!
???
Devil dog is another name for a Marine. Kind of has a ring to it doesn`t it NC 🙂
🙂 🙂 🙂
“NSA leak is treason, says Fienstein”
BAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!! ROLMFAO!!!!
Oh man, thanks Fienstein. You made my day. Spoken like a true Communist. Let’s exploit someone else in order to distract the people, shift the blame and hide my own insecurities and corruption from them.
She’s probably thinking, “Maybe if I blame someone else, people will forget about me and what I have done. Yea, that should work.” She’s so pathetic.
I’m telling you all right now, Snowden is working as a double agent to get inside Russia and to infilitrate and gather intelligence for the NSA for the upcoming war with Syria and Iran and the more they exploit him and say he’s a traitor in the news, the better his cover will be when he enters Russia and the more sympathy he will get from the public in the outside world. The MSM is doing their job well in playing their part in the psychological warfare.
Also, I’m sure the CIA right down the street from him in Hong Kong helped him escape and smuggle himself onto a ship headed for Russia. That’s why there is no trace of him and all of a sudden Russia is open arms for him. This is like a story right out of the show, “24”. It has Counter-intelligence written all over it.
“Keep your friend’s close, keep your enemies closer.”
…impeach Diane Fienstein…charge her with treason…find her guilty and hang her by chain…at the newest National Monument The National Gallows for American Values…to be built with WTC Thermite tainted steel at Ground Zero 911….convict her and her family…her kids..brothers, sisters..anyone associated with her….convict them all of generational treason…and then start hanging them very slowly with chain….so that a convicted Diane Feinstein chokes to death very slowly…and in the last few moments of her corrupt life…”we the people” should be up on the Gallows to douse her and others..(Bill & Hillary) in oil-laced gasoline…and we should lite them afire in the last few moments of their wretched lives…let them know what liberty really feels like….
Regards,
RJ O’Guillory
Author-
Webster Groves-The Life of an Insane Family
Diane Swinestein needs to be “disappeared”.
Treason, Fienstein?
How about you hang for sedition?
Gun grabbing Khazar bitch.
I totally agree with JD. We are operating under a Zionist, communist occupation ‘ government’
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-flek
Every time I see a picture of Feinstien I can’t help but wonder if David Icke is right. She definatly looks vaguely reptilian. (brrrrrrr…shudder)
Commie b!tch doesn’t know the definition of Treason & she does it on a daily basis. Same goes for Boehner who’s doing a outstanding parrot imitation of this Kenite cow. Much more proof that there is little difference between the Parties when it comes to usurping the U.S. Constitution.
JD-US MARINES
You hit the nail on the head with that comment. well done..
The 3 most laughably, insane quotes of the day:
“He took an oath — that oath is important,” she said. “He violated the oath, he violated the law. It’s an act of treason in my view.”
“I hope we follow Mr. Snowden to the ends of the earth to bring him to justice,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted on Monday.
“I would prosecute him,” House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday on Fox News. “If you are a whistle-blower, you don’t leave the United States. You don’t go to a communist country.”
Notice the last one mentions how a whistle-blower is not suppose to leave the U.S. AND is not suppose to go to a communist country. I’m completely confused. Is he saying the U.S. is NOT a communist country?
BAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!!! And another one just flew over the cuckoo’s nest.
Lind-Z Graham??? I would expect as much from a closet scrotum scratcher. Him, McInsane & reach-around Larry Craig come from the same tree.
Can you hand me that bent spear? I need to poke a hole through that tree. lol
Got some 12ga AP that out to do the trick….pokin’ me spear into a rotted tree is no bueno fer sh!t.
Well, I just figure I’d save the bullets for a rainy day. lol
This is the end goal here, people, with the all of these scandals as of late, straight from the Protocols of Zion:
“Eventually the Goyim will be so angry with their governments (because we’ll blame them for the resulting mess) that they’ll gladly have us take over, we will then appoint a descendant of David to be King of the world, and the remaining Goyim will bow down and sing his praises. Everyone will live in peace and obedient order under his glorious rule.”
Be careful who comes to save the day. He just might be someone 100 times worse than Obama himself, if that’s even possible.
This is not something one man or one leader can handle alone. It is something we the people of the world must do together for the cause of freedom and liberty in our own countries, if we are to succeed in getting rid of these Zionists, once and for all.
Hanging is too good for this traitorous b#tch. After the SHTF, and she’s safely under lock & key, I say we hold a lottery to see who gets to strangle her with their bare hands.
That’s basically the same as hanging, RIGHT?
btw, I think us Crazifornians should have our names in the hat more than once. After all, she DOES peddle her gun-grabbing filth in our backyard.