Ron Paul praises Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden, who appears to have donated to Ron Pauls presidential campaign in 2012, has gotten some support from the former Texas congressman.
We should be thankful for individuals like Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald who see injustice being carried out by their own government and speak out, despite the risk, said Paul in a statement on the Web site of Campaign for Liberty, his nonprofit. They have done a great service to the American people by exposing the truth about what our government is doing in secret. Glenn Greenwald is a reporter for the Guardian, which first published the story revealing the scope of the U.S. governments surveillance programs.
Snowden revealed himself on Sunday as the leaker of top-secret documents from the National Security Agency. Campaign finance records show that an Edward Snowden who appears to be the man self-identified as the leaker contributed $250 to Pauls presidential campaign twice in 2012.
In his statement, Paul condemned the secret collection of phone and Internet data that was exposed by Snowdens leak. The government does not need to know more about what we are doing, he said. We need to know more about what the government is doing.
Pauls son Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has also seized on the issue and says he plans to launch a class-action lawsuit against the NSA.