Edward
Snowden has written an "open letter to the people of Brazil" offering
to assist Brazil's government investigate allegations of U.S. spying,
but on the condition that he be granted permanent political asylum.
The letter was first published Tuesday in Brazil's Folha newspaper.
"I've
expressed my willingness to assist where it's appropriate and legal,
but, unfortunately, the U.S. government has been working hard to limit
my ability to do so," the letter says.
The letter was first made
available on the newspaper's website in Portuguese. USA TODAY read a
version of the letter using online translation software. It was
subsequently posted on Facebook by an account apparently belonging to David Miranda, the partner of former Guardian
journalist Glenn Greenwald, the Brazil-based American journalist who
was the recipient of thousands of documents detailing the National
Security Agency's spying programs.
It was not entirely clear from
the letter whether Snowden was suggesting that the South American nation
should grant him asylum in return for help in probing claims that the
U.S. has spied on Brazil.
"Until a country grants me permanent
political asylum, the U.S. government will continue to interfere with my
ability to speak out," Snowden writes in the letter.
He says
that, "Many Brazilian senators agree and asked me to help their
investigations into suspected crimes against Brazilian citizens."
In
response to a tweet Tuesday, Greenwald told USA TODAY that "if media
outlets want to report what they think is the "sub-text," that's fine —
but they should report its actual content." Earlier, Greenwald
characterized many media summaries of the letter to Brazil as "wrong."
On
Monday. Snowden said he felt vindicated by a federal judge's ruling
that the collection of data by the National Security Agency was most
likely unconstitutional.
"Today, a secret program authorized by a
secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate
Americans' rights. It is the first of many," the former NSA contractor
said in a statement.
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