wrong of the, unconstitutional, wrongfully withheld. i wasn't able to say anything about that. or why i felt that it was reasonable for me to risk my life in this circumstance as i had done earlier in the marine corps and elsewhere and vietnam but to risk my life to get the truths to the american people. snowden wouldn't have a chance to say any of those things, the sort of things he said to brian williams. he couldn't say those to a jury. the prosecutor would say, objection, irrelevant, as in my case. and under the current terms of the espionage act, the judge would have to agree. that's why the espionage act needs to be rescinded as applied to leakers. it was never meant to be applied to whistle blowers as president obama has now done seven times. it's not designed for that and it's unconstitutional in that capacity. and second, congress should pass laws that guarantee a public defense to anyone accused of breaking secrecy regulations by truth telling, by whistle blowing.

defense to anyone accused of breaking secrecy regulations by truth telling, by whistle blowing. >> edward snowden has called you an inspiration. do you view him as an inspiration as well. >> i certainly do. i think he's -- i was very pleased to hear that i had been in his mind at all when i saw th that on the news just yesterday. i called my wife to take a look at the computer. she said, you should take a picture of that. i'm proud of that because edward snowden is a man that makes me

>> reacting to that, you are calling is slanderous and despicable. why is john kerry wrong? >> he calls ed snowden a fugitive from justice. i would say he's right in regarding he's a fugitive from injustice. that appeared in my own trial 43 years ago and that was the very first prosecution of any american for giving information to americans. that trial demonstrated that i was not allowed, by the nature of the charges against me under the espionage act, to describe my motives, my reasons, the considerations that had led me to break my promise that i had made to the government many times not to reveal their secrets. i wasn't able to tell the jury that i regarded those secrets as wrong of the, unconstitutional, wrongfully withheld. i wasn't able to say anything

surveillance, not about the man himself. do you think he accomplished his goal? >> yes, i do. i think that he needed to be out of the country in order to do what he has done, which is to guide several reporters that he's dealt with, bart gellman, lauren greenwald, very carefully through chat logs through the maze of arcane symbols and illusions through these documents. if he had simply dumped them on the web, which he could have done without any retribution, and he would be free and clear and back in hawaii right now if he had done that, they don't speak for themselves. there's too many symbols and code words that even i having had those clearances and been in the government wouldn't understand without someone informing me. so he's been able to do that continuously, and the only way he could do that was from outside the country.

outside the country. >> and yet a lot of the media coverage was about the fact that he is in russia and that he wants to come home. we saw secretary of state john kerry comment about this, and he was comparing, actually contrasting, your case and snowden's. let me play a clip from that. >> there are many a patriot. you can go back to the pentagon papers with dan ellsburg and others who stood and went to the court system of america and made their case. edward snowden is a coward. he is a traitor, and he has betrayed his country. and if he wants to come home tomorrow to face the music, he can do so. >> reacting to that, you are calling is slanderous and