Washington lawmakers have vilified former NSA contractor turned secret-spiller Edward Snowden ever since he fled the country for safe harbor in Russia. And with Russia's incursion into Ukraine, those criticisms have taken on a new dimension to reflect the escalating tension between Moscow and the U.S. To wit, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, insisted Sunday on Meet the Press that Snowden aided Russia by leaking classified information about America's spy programs, and that he was now tacitly supporting its expansionist aggression.
"He is under the influence of Russian intelligence officials today," Rogers said. "He is actually supporting in an odd way this very activity of brazen brutality and expansionism of Russia."
Rogers made a similar claim before — also without evidence — so host David Gregory pressed him on whether it was "irresponsible" to make such a loaded charge without hard proof. Yet Rogers again declined to offer specifics to back himself up, saying only that he sees "all the intelligence and all the evidence."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Every counterintelligence official believes that," he said. "You won't find one that doesn't believe today he's under the influence of Russian intelligence services." --Jon Terbush
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
-
How China is battling the chikungunya virusUnder The Radar Thousands of cases of the debilitating disease have been found in the country
-
Deep thoughts: AI shows its math chopsFeature Google's Gemini is the first AI system to win gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad
-
Book reviews: 'Face With Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji' and 'Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story'Feature The surprising history of emojis and the brother duo who changed pop music
-
Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLSspeed read He has nominated the Heritage Foundation's E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
Trump takes over DC police, deploys National GuardSpeed Read The president blames the takeover on rising crime, though official figures contradict this concern
-
Trump sends FBI to patrol DC, despite falling crimeSpeed Read Washington, D.C., 'has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,' Trump said
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monumentsSpeed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seatspeed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring pushSpeed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additionsSpeed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein filesSpeed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline
