glen greenwald, his reaction and developing news today. a federal judge ruling that parts of the nsa data collection program is likely unconstitutional. stay with us for that. [ laughter ] he loves me. he loves me not. he loves me. he loves me not. ♪ he loves me! that's right. [ mom ] warm and flaky in 15, everyone loves pillsbury grands! [ girl ] make dinner pop! everyone loves pillsbury grands! so when my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis them. was also on display, i'd had it. i finally had a serious talk with my dermatologist. this time, he prescribed humira-adalimumab. humira helps to clear the surface of my skin by actually working inside my body. in clinical trials, most adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis saw 75% skin clearance. and the majority of people were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer have happened. blood, liver and nervous system probl

glen greenwald is there on the ground floor along with you, laura, american journalist in berlin, whoas done amazing work in the middle east, and he's going to throw in $250 million of his own dollars to the venture. what are you going to do with all that cash? >> well, first of all that figure came out in an interview because h he was asked if he was going to buy th an newspaper. which cost $250 million. this is a stance , a robust investigative news site but full spectrum news, not just covering the nsa . >> had he walked up to you and side i want to hire you with the "washington post." would you have gone to a mainstream organization? >> if he said i want to build the "washington post." it's not that i have a problem with the "washington post." they have great journalist who is have done fantastic investigative reporter. but the process we have a media culture in the united states where we are increasingly adversarial to those in power. pierre was saying i want to transform the "washington post" into this bad ass news organization, sure, i would work for it. >> did he come to you o

classified information is not his to decide to give to glen greenwald or anyone else. issues is very important. and i continue to disagree with how it came up, but this is an important conversation for the country to have. >> glen>> glen, how much of the recommendations do you actually see the obama white house adopting? >> that's a really great question. i think already they've indicated some of them they're not actually amenable to. and there's going to be really serious awkwardness, right, if the obama white house convenience thconvenes this panel close to president obama, people at university of chicago, cass sunstein in his administration who looked at michael morelba, the deputy director of the cia who looked at this and said we don't need these programs to say safe. they're menace to americans' individual liberty and privacy. you've asked us to tell you what should be done after a careful review. here's what we say. how does the obama white house turn around and say we're going to ignore our own panel's recommendations. we're going to simply disregard them even t

didn't want the world to know about, it screams terrorism over and over. >> that's what journal glen greenwaldsays. now greenwald says the u.s. uses terrorism as an excuse to do expanded many. >> the art could be sold to try to help chirp away at the city's $18 billion long term debt. >>> and tapering down, the federal reserve says, with an improving economy it's time to ease back on government stimulus spending. investors liked what they heard, the dow closed up nearly 300 points. >>> when you shop online companies can easily find out what you like, what you buy. now retailers are bringing new surveillance technology into their stores to find out more about their customers. natasha guinane is here to tell us about it. natasha. >> john, as you hunt for that gift or bargain this holiday season you might not realize that retailers are watching you from up above. stores are using sophisticated technology to track shoppers and while it might be beneficial to retailers, is it beneficial to you? >> each step these shoppers are taking in these stores is using a digital footprint. often they don't eve

was there any information which you had at the guardian that glen greenwald did not until you transferred it to him. >> i don't know the exact answer to that. because i don't know what he -- what -- who got what in the initial -- >> why did the guardian have all of this information to glen greenwald if he already had it? >> well, sometimes -- i don't want to get too drawn into the methodology of how we've worked. >> have you communicated this information? >> i'm not entirely. >> i'm not entirely -- i cannot be entirely sure what mr. green wald had separately from us, what was created in different ways, what is held, in what ways -- what he has on us or not. i've seen him on the public record say he does have complete sets but i don't know that to be true. >> has he said in the public record that the files -- some files relating to gchq that the guardian shared with the new york times were a set of documents that only the guardian had? >> i don't want to repeat myself too much. i don't know -- i know mr. green wald has gchq material that he has that was given to him directly from mr. snowd

so there's no question that today is a big victory for glen greenwald and snowden. >> why doesn't itustify what he did? >> he took classified information and disclosed it in an illegal way that is costing 10s of millions of dollars of work by the american government to redo and potentially exposed it to the chinese and russians. i don't think this vindicates him but it comes closer than any previous development has. >> should this vindicate ed snowden? >> how could it not? let use common sense for a minute. this is an american citizen who discovers that the united states government is doing things without the knowledge of the american people that is so illegal and against the core constitutional guarantees of the constitution that the judge says it's not even a close call. james madison would be aghast if he knew that the government is gathering the data doubt suspicion or probable cause. it is a duty of an american citizen to come forward at great risk to himself and inform his fellow citizens. >> what should he have done? what should an american citizen do? >> he can go to an inspe

. >>> we spoke with glen greenwald, the first person who filed reports on the leaked documents. >> the u.s. uses terrorism as an excuse for doing everything. from invading iraq, putting people in cages and the minute it's gets caught doing something that it didn't want the world to know about it starts to scare people by screaming terrorism over and over. if you look at the reports we've written, and what the judge this week said there really is very little evidence to support the claim that these programs are about stopping terrorism. they seem far more about diplomatic manipulation and the accumulation of power. much of the reporting that we've done has been about spying on targets that have no conceivable relationships of national security or terrorism whether it's spying, the brazilian oil giant or conferences for negotiating economic accords or energy companies in europe and asia. clearly economic spying or targeting world leaders of democratically elected allies like presidents of brazil, mexico and germany, which has nothing to do with terrorism, either. if you look at how the n

and we're going to talk to glen greenwald about that.e deal was finally struck after every member of congress was visited by three ghosts. >> the senate is poised to pass the two-year budget agreement. >> it's a safe bet it's going to pass. >> we need bipartisan support to pass. >> it's not a done deal. it's going to be very close. >> we must not shut down the government again. >> we also don't want to have shutdown drama. >> only in washington can an agreement be so divisive. >> john has kind of got his irish up. >> you have no idea what you're criticizing. >> i see the tea party as indisenceable. read the deal and get back to me. >> are you kidding me. >> irish flare up or revenge of the moderate? >> i prefer to keep these conversations within our family. >>> following a lot of developing news. a federal court ruling that key parts of the nsa surveillance program are more likely unconstitutional. we'll have much more on that story with the reporter who broke these nsa disclosurers, glen greenwald. but we begin with congress. the house

giving the documents to glen greenwald is not an orderly or fair or ultimately responsible way to run a government. it is just similarly untenable to have a system where mr. snowden, even if one court has said he is right, can force the government to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, can jeopardize individuals who are working on those systems. it's just not a way to run a government. >> anderson? >> you can respond. >> i just want to say one thing. if you look at the stories over the last decade that are the most widely regarded in journalism, what it involves is discovering illegal behavior done in secret coming to journalists who report on it. because someone in the justice department has come to them. or lots of different stories that jeff's magazine "the new yorker" has published where people inside the government come to them and say i have discovered these secret instances of wrongdoing. i trust you as a journalist to report it responsibly. that's why we have a free press and part of the fabric of american democracy. >> jeff, i assume you take issue with the idea that the h

. >> joining me now is glen greenwald, the investigative journalist who broke the story. glen, you're one of the few people who know snowden, got to know him very well before all this came out on your website. you've had contact with him. what do you think is the message that he was trying to get across, and what's your take on it? >> well, from the beginning, he's always felt an obligation to account to the public for what it is that he did and why he did it. he didn't want to be in the spotlight which is why he stayed off television for six months, because he wanted the focus to be on the nsa, but he does want to say that in a democracy, it is vital that we know the most important and most pro foundly consequential acts that the government is engaged in. he stepped forward to inform people about what kind of state they want to live in. >> in an interview with the "washington post" that was published on christmas eve, he said basically mission accomplished. because what he did not only revealed the secret program, which he says trampled on privacy, but also it stirred an

information which that d at the guardian glen greenwald did not until you transferred it to him. exact answerow the to that. he -- i don't know what what -- who got what in the initial -- allhy did the guardian have of this information to glen greenwald if he already had it? >> well, sometimes -- i don't ant to get too drawn into the methodology of how we've worked. communicated this information? ly. 'm not entire ly >> i cannot be entirely sure green wald had separately from us, what was created in different ways, what ways -- what he has on us or not. the public m on record say he does have complete sets but i don't know that to be true. >> has he said in the public files -- some files relating to gchq that the shared with the new york times were a set of guardian that only the had? >> i don't want to repeat myself too much. -- i know mr. green gchq material that he has that was given to him directly from mr. snowden. tell you exactly what e gave him that he didn't have already. >> if you choose not to answer this question, but do you consider -- do you have on the identities o

glen greenwald is the journalist who first published the stash of information and he says the nsa leaker wants to make a deal to come back home. >> what edward snowden has always said from the start is if i could be guaranteed fair treatment and wouldn't be persecuted for the stories i would love to return to the united states but in general the u.s. government tends to be vindictive when it comes to people who expose wrong doing. >> we talked earlier on my show and you said this is a limited ruling and it begs the question that this would open the door to many other cases. but we learned there are many other cases currently pending. >> there is one filed by the american civil liberties union and two plaintiffs have won, anyone who is in a similar situation which is basically all of us who have had our phones looked at by this program can file a same lawsuit. so it's going to be open season on the nsa now. >> there is a meeting tomorrow, the president of the united states and tech companies getting together and talking about their roles. what do you think they will tell president obama?

the journalist glen greenwald said in his words that it's further proof that the american people needed to know what the nsa was doing. >> the nsa screams the word terrorism to scare people but there is no evidence. say the people in the know, this court, people on the intelligence committee, that these programs actually stop terrorist plots. >> edward snowden who leaked a lot of those documents to greenwald as he stole the documents, of course, said the ruling justifies what he did, writing i acted on my belief that the nsa's mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge. the secret program authorized by a secret was exposed to the light of day found to violate americans rights. the first of many. as for snowden's future white house is responding to the suggestion he should be offered amnesty in exchange of returning the documents and data taken from the nsa, insisting its position has not changed. >> mr. snowden has been accused of leaking classified information and he faces felony charges here in the united states. he should be returned to the united state

now, glen greenwald, the reporter that works with snowden, does point out only 1% of the secrets haveled so far, so for snowden, there's always next year. >>> other news, twitter has skyrocketed to another high. better than $53 a share this morning. would you believe it's been just a month -- in that time the stock has doubled. >>> yahoo mail has entered its second day of trouble. the company says people who can't access their mail on the posts we're reading say many mobile too. this is two days without e-mail. that could be really tough, but if you rely on e-mail for your small business, guys, it's a nightmare. >> thanks so much, scott. >>> an airline known in canada is known for its special stunts during the holiday season, but this one may take the cake. >> a nice little story. westjet in calgary installed a virtual santa outside its gate that asked boarding passengers what would you like tore christmas? well, the wish list ranged from gadgets to new socks and underwear. they kept it within control there. well, the passengers were in flight. volunteers went shopping, and when those

it's true he's with held a lot documents and at least glen greenwald has threatened they'll be released if something unspecified bad happens. but the description of how those documents were released suggests that it may not be entirely within snow den's capacity -- snowden's capacity to pull them back. so i doubt that this ever could be made to work. >> ok. thanks for coming in. i should point out the white house of course has dismissed this proposition as well. thanks very much for joining us. and a quick look at other news from around the world. president of south sudan says his troops have foiled an attempted coup after fighting in the capital. the fighting forced some residents to seek refuge at a u.n. base. the president blamed the violence on soldiers loyal to his former department twhoy is from a smaller trie tribe but one of the accused plotters denied trying to stage a coup. as angry demonstrators demand closer ties to europe, ukraine's embattled president will meet the russian president in moscow tomorrow. in this tug of war between east and west, the meeting will anger protes

. >>> we spoke with glen greenwald who spoke on the reports. >> they use terrorism as a jus justification about doing anything. if you look at the document written there is very little evidence that supports the claim that these are about stopping terrorism. they seem far more about accumulation of power. much of the reporting we have done is about spying on targets that have nothing to do with terrorism. whether it's the brazilian oil giant, conferences for negotiating economic accords or energy companies in europe and asia, clearly economic spying or targeting world leaders of democratically elected allies will brazil, mexico and germany, which has nothing to do with terrorism either. if you look at how the nsa is collecting data they're collecting billions and billions with a "b," of e-mail and telephone calls. and if you talk to surveillance experts, when the government is collecting that amount of data, it makes it much harder to find the people who are engaged in terrorism. >> let's talk about business news. a huge rally with stocks getting a big boost after the federal reserve's su

. >> it would do more than help out glen greenwald. >> jedediah, you talk about liberties.ves you the right to claim what national security is and isn't. snowden decided what was important. >> he's not a hero to me. because he -- when it comes to domestic issues, i think that's key. in terms of jeopardizing our relationships with other countries that's enormously problematic. tease countries are interested. other countries won't want deteriorating relationships with the u.s. by housing this guy. he had no -- to know he would wind up in this. >> you're like the conversation umpire. >> you did okay. andy, you said snowden could crash in your apartment with you. i don't know if he's that -- >> ixnay on telling the government that, aye. i said he'll always have asylum in my heart. look, you guys -- this is hilarious. a federal judge saying the collection of at ttelephony dat is -- saying in direct contradiction the bulk collection of this was not essential in preventing attacks. snowden a traitor, don't make me laugh. >> he's not a hero. he's a pawn sfles's not a trait ir. >> a

tomorrow night on al jazeera america, my conversation with glen greenwald a journalist that broke the story earlier this year. that's at 8:00 p.m. eastern and five pacific. now to a disus thing robert about chinese espeonnage. revelations that accuse china of hacking into the federal commissions website. now, according to the center for public integrity, the attacks took place during the government shut down, when the agency staff were furloughed. we asked the about today's report, but they declined to comment. the author joins us now from washington. he is the senior political reporter for the center of public integrity, and also an al jazeera political contributor. so dave, you were very much involved in this story, tell me how e part for transparency, if you take about elections if you have ever voted then even though the fes may not seem like the sexiest agency, it is still very important. so when it was not able to put up the millions and millions of records about the financial of elections then the american public was at a disadvantage, and a major way, and all the result of a g

week, former guardian journalist glen greenwald estified before the committee on the nsa surveillance programs and privacy issues. is the journalist that ecorded documents from nsa leaker edward snowden. the hearing on civil liberties, home affairs is an hour. >> please welcome to the session of the committee of inquiry of the european parliament. we have an hour of this session. to invite you to do your presentation and then have full -- ll we'll take questions and answers. have you with to us here today. give the floor and the radio link, rather, the floor is yours. >> good afternoon. hank you to the committee for convening this inquiry and inviting me to speak to you as well. there has been a virtual avalanche of stories and reports six months t regarding else by image and electronic surveillance by the nsa and its partners and each of the stories has been extremely important. think that the quantity of endangered etimes he ultimate point from being obscured. so i wanted to spend a little bit of time discussing what i revelation, primary the crux of all of these stories that ties t

snowden or the people that glen greenwald is going to be working with, any time they want, they haven private ownership this national security information? they can do with what they want. >> does it concern me? i hope that the people whose hands it's in, you know -- behave responsibly. >> isn't that like the government? isn't that what we hope the nsa -- sounds exactly the same thing, but they're private, not the government. >> now you know, the nsa could have not given a contractor access to all of its international secrets. and maybe we wouldn't be in this situation. so, you know, the fact that nobody has been, you know, fired at the top of the nsa -- i completely agree with you. it is scandalous that the nsa can't protect its own secrets from its contractors. not even its own public employees. >> dana, just moving a little bit -- staying on the situation a little bit, but on a slightly different angle, the house and senate committees on intelligence, mike rogers, dianne feinstein, we saw them talking about this doom's day scenar scenario, where mr. snowden is partly to blame for

glen greenwald, the journalist working with snowden has said we have only seen a small percentage of secrets that snowden knows. snowden this morning has reportedly offered a deal with brazil in a letter posted to facebook seems to hint he would tell brazil more secrets about america's spies on that country in exchange for asylum in brazil. wall street begins its meeting today to discuss easy money policies as we watch "show girls" on the nasdaq this morning. haven't got a rule for that one. the markets are a bit lower this morning. and new into our newsroom this morning, google and hp recalling the charger on their latest computer, the chrome book 11, on fears it could catch fire while charging. this is the very inexpensive chrome book, costs about 200 bucks. but they have had several incidents of overheating and fire. >> interesting. thank you very much. >>> 6:56 right now. one final check of the day's other top headlines. several sunnyvale residents plan to file a lawsuit in federal court today in response to the city's new strict gun control law. the lawsuit filed by attorneys fr

out in the last two weeks and said what he had seen so far he had no intention of prosecuting glen greenwald. on his watch as attorney-general of the u.s. he would won't prosecute any journalist doing their duty journalistically. in new york within the last month i debated general counsel of the nsa steward baker and he said between what ed snowden did and what journalists did, once the information is in the hands of journalists it is protected material. a nice reading of our own bbc and the guidelines he laid down in the process, the public interest will weigh heavily and highly in any deliberations he takes. >> >> and what he was engage in, which was distributing the national borders. >> we were cheri in this with the new york times, ordered to stimulated debate, which is vital. >> is their current police investigation into "the guardian"? >> i don't know. communications with you all. >> i have seen scotland yard say they are holding an investigation. in records, as a public record the committee decided to call the head of am i 5 in open session. >> did you have advance notice of the quest

more of my conversation with glen n greenwald and what is next for him. plus a million dollar piccaso showed for what, $140. >> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. here are the top stories. construction on new houses soared almost 23% last month, the biggest jump in 20 years. home builders broke ground on 1 million homes in november, the most since early 2008. it's a deal of bipartisan budget agreement passing the senate avoiding a government shutdown for up to two years. the bill eases automatic spending cuts caused by the sequester. 48 recommendations on how to reg eye late the n.s.a. a suggestion from the presidential commission - appoint a civilian head instead of a military general running the n.s.a. >> more of our conversation with journalist glenn greenwald. he's been highly critical of the n.s.a. and the secretive green lighted activities. now that the advisory panels and a federal court ruling called the practices into question i asked glenn greenwald if he feels vindicated. >> the first article i wrote was abou

. >> and coming up, we'll talk to investigative journalist glen greenwald, the man who broke open theit. >>> plus she was known for standing by her man when then husband eliot spitzer caught in a prostitution scandal. but the spitzers dropped a christmas bombshell coming up. >>> a country in turmoil. stay with us. ♪ [ male announcer ] welcome back all the sweet things your family loves with 0-calorie monk fruit in the raw. ♪ welcome back [ male announcer ] it's made with the natural, vine-ripened sweetness of fruit, so you can serve up deliciously sweet treats without all the sugar. so let no drink go unsweetened. no spatula un-licked. and no last bit un-sipped. you don't have to throw a party, but you'll probably feel like celebrating. raw natural sweetness, raw natural success. but you'll probably feel like celebrating. wout of landfills each year? plastic waste to cover mt. rainier by using one less trash bag each month, we can. and glad forceflex bags stretch until they're full.* so you can take them out less often. i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for

greenwald who lives in brazil with miranda accused the u.k. authorities of intimidation. in the second part of my interview with glen, i asked him and his partner about that or deal. i was -- they took me to a small room. they trapped my, to trick me, and put me into the jail. the entire time, to ask things about my family, my partner, about snowden, everything. it was not a good experience. >> glen, how did you feel when you partner was brought into in whole situation? >> i felt furious, and helpless. nine hours is a long time, when your partner is essentially imprisoned in a country, to which he has no connection, i was being told by lawyers that it is quite likely that he would be arrested. and it was clearly a very blatant assault on press freedom, because a lot of different reporters and other people that have worked on this, went in and out without any problem, and suddenly when someone much more peripheral simply tries to pass through, they detained him for nine hours. under a terrorism statute, which was really quite intended to be intimidating and ironically quite terrorizing. it showed the world how abuse

. >> glenn greenwald broke the snowden story, published the big leaks so far. he joins me tonight with senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. glenu make of the report, the recommendation? it's extremely important, especially in the wake of the federal court ruling found that the collection program is unconstitutional or likely so and now you have a panel of the white houses hand-picked advisors concluding the program in the current form should stop, it poise as serious danger to core liberties and just as the court found, there is no evidence it plays any important role in stopping terrorist attacks. >> jeff, as glen said, coming on the heels of the court rolling being unconstitutional, what do you make of it? >> i find it in an uncharacter tick, there is one aspect i don't understand. what they suggest is moving the meta data away from the nsa to the private sector. now, do we trust the private sector so much in this country that this data, which everyone is so worried about, is so concerned about, it's better to have it under the control of amazon or google or whoever the turns out to be rather than the united states governmen