Edward Snowden has said he is unafraid of Russian president Vladimir Putin turning him over to the US as a favor to President-elect Donald Trump.
The national security whistleblower, speaking during a Thursday webchat from Russia, where he has been stranded since disclosing revelations of widespread National Security Agency surveillance in 2013, said it would be “crazy to dismiss” the prospect of Trump striking a deal with Putin that leads to his extradition and trial.
But he added: “If I was worried about safety, if the security and the future of myself was all that I cared about, I would still be in Hawaii.”
Snowden told the webchat hosted by the Dutch privacy-focused search engine StartPage he was comfortable with and proud of the choices he had made.
“I think I did the right thing,” he said. “While I can’t predict what the future looks like, I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, I can be comfortable with the way I’ve lived to today.”
Trump, who has been complimentary about Putin and Russia in a manner that prompted accusations from his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton that he was a “puppet”, has in the past mused about having Snowden killed. Trump’s major national security ally, the retired general and former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Michael Flynn, oversaw a highly speculative DIA report that claimed Snowden took from the NSA a larger trove of documents than ever confirmed based on what Snowden could access as a contract systems administrator.
“Snowden is a spy who has caused great damage in the US. A spy in the old days, when our country was respected and strong, would be executed,” Trump tweeted in 2014.
All of that has prompted concern among Snowden’s supporters worldwide that the groundwork for an extradition is in place. But Snowden proclaimed himself unperturbed.
“I don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s possible. It would be crazy to dismiss the idea of this guy who presents himself as a big deal maker [Trump] as trying to make a deal.
“Now, the president of Russia has previously said on camera that the people of Russia consider me a human rights defender and regardless of the position we have on Russian politics, which obviously have a lot of problems, they said Russia is not a country that extradites human rights defenders.
“But let’s say that wasn’t true. Let’s say some kind of deal was made, all of that turned around and I was sent away. If I was worried about safety, if the security and the future of, sort of, myself was all that I cared about, I would still be in Hawaii.”
He added: “I think I did the right thing. And while you know I can’t predict what the future looks like, I can’t predict what’s going to happen tomorrow, I can be comfortable with the way I’ve lived to today. And no matter what happens, right, if there’s a drone strike that comes tomorrow, if you know, they put together some operation, I slip and fall down the stairs, that’s something that won’t change.”
Snowden has vigorously denied collaborating in any manner with any foreign intelligence agency, even unwittingly. The Obama administration nevertheless has charged him under the Espionage Act, which would restrict him from making a full case for his leaking to a jury.
In his talk, Snowden focused on advocating for encryption and other cybersecurity measures to become foundational to the architecture of the internet and to connected devices, as well as urging sustained political activism around privacy measures. For the most part, the world’s most famous whistleblower elided questions about the presidential election.
Snowden alluded to “very concerning statements made by our new president-elect”, but expressed optimism that the US will survive it.
“This is a dark moment in our nation’s history, but it is not the end of history. And if we work together we can build something better, and we can enjoy a more free and a more liberal society that benefits everyone,” Snowden said.
“As long as we do our best to live in accordance with our values, we don’t have to worry about what happens tomorrow, because today is enough.”