this is the really the worst part of the of the espionage act this is the reason why ed snowden can't come home this is the reason why i couldn't go to trial this is the reason why jeffrey sterling the other cia whistleblower was convicted because there is no affirmative defense we are prohibited by law from going into court and saying i did it but i did it for this reason and in the case of daniel hale this was a war crime he did it because he was exposing a war crime he's not allowed to say that and so he really doesn't have any chance of acquittal the best thing to do for daniel as it was for me as it was for so many others here charged under the espionage act is to take a deal and to hope for the lightest possible sentence the decision that was made early on even before joe biden was inaugurated to pursue the appeal against julian his son it was that decision that made it clear that joe biden was going to pursue national security leaks just like barack obama did and just like donald trump did after him. it is often international as we gear up for monday's historic anniversary of t