Mark former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg down in the #Traitor camp.
In an exclusive interview with “Meet the Press” host David Gregory, Bloomberg said NSA leaker Edward Snowden should be prosecuted for releasing classified documents, calling the data dump a dangerous move in a dangerous world.
Bloomberg was weighing in on revelations from Snowden’s exclusive interview with “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, which aired this week. Bloomberg’s interview will air on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.
“The guy should be prosecuted,” Bloomberg said when asked whether he considered Snowden a patriot or a traitor. “You cannot have individual people deciding what information should be released. We have a democratic process and my recollection is things like the N.S.A. surveillance, that, well the process worked.”
“Congress, Republicans and Democrats, were informed. The select committees that they have to monitor this said, okay,” the former mayor went on.
“You cannot have a public debate about it because intelligence just doesn't work that way. You can't compromise your ability to get information and the world's a very dangerous place.”
NBC News asked its audience to voice their opinions through the Twitter hashtag #Patriot or #Traitor.
Tracking the terms on Twitter from 2 p.m. Tuesday to just before 5 p.m. Friday, a little more than 60% tweeted that Snowden is a #Patriot compared to just under 40% tweeting that he is a #Traitor.
During the hour-long broadcast Wednesday, the first interview the fugitive had given to a U.S. television network, the number of tweets calling Snowden a patriot outnumbered traitor nearly two to one.
