US won't prosecute Glenn Greenwald, reporter tied to Snowden leaks

The US Justice Department has no plans to prosecute the journalist who facilitated Edward Snowden’s leaks about US surveillance practices, Attorney General Eric Holder said in an interview published on Friday.

Glenn Greenwald, an American, is based in Brazil and has written several news stories based on documents he received from Snowden.

Fugitive leaker Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, was charged with three felonies that each carry a maximum of 10 years in prison in a criminal complaint unsealed in June.

Holder also indicated that US officials were still seeking to repatriate Snowden, who is currently in Russia on temporary asylum, so he can stand trial on charges of taking and leaking classified documents about surveillance programs.

Despite “ongoing” talks with Russian officials, however, Holder said that “as of now” Moscow was not open to sending Snowden back to the United States for trial.

“Unless information that has not come to my attention is presented to me, what I have indicated in my testimony before Congress is that any journalist who’s engaged in true journalistic activities is not going to be prosecuted by this Justice Department,” Holder told The Washington Post referring to Greenwald.

The top US law enforcement official also sought to dismiss Greenwald’s writings as advocacy journalism.