Snowden himself spoke with Alan Rusbridger for the Financial Times this month in Moscow, discussing topics that ranged from his biopic, to the Panama Papers, to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) hack, to the impact of mass surveillance on geopolitics.
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And with just four months to go until Obama leaves office, time is running out for Snowden’s supporters, as the odds would get significantly longer under either a Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump administration; in fact, Trump’s latest campaign hire, former Central Intelligence Agency chief James Woolsey, previously said Snowden should be “hanged” for treason in the wake of the Paris attacks last November.
The Guardian worked with Snowden on stories about his leaked material, and later won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage. Those leaks – which exposed a massive level of surveillance by US and United Kingdom intelligence agencies – changed the nation in a positive way, he said.
“The Congress, the courts and the President all changed their policies as a result of these disclosures”.
Wizner added that the campaign was planned to begin in conjunction with Stone’s film, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Snowden.
Some federal officials have come around to him – such as Obama’s former attorney general Eric Holder, who said Snowden performed a “public service” and should be pardoned.
Snowden’s leak exposed the scope of NSA surveillance on American citizens – and infuriated President Obama. When Obama responded, he refused clemency and said Snowden should be tried for his charges, for which he faces up to 30 years in prison, according to Politico. The White House did not immediately comment on the story.
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Stone said Sunday that he didn’t set out to make an specifically activist film, but noted that he wanted to stick as close to the truth as possible without turning the film into “a bore”.
