mr. snowden anticipates defense that he did this for the good of public interest mr. elsburg i want to ask you this. because this is what critics of snowden say. that you have to balance society's need for order and current with personal freedom. how do you see that balance? >> look very simply. when he says that's his defense that's his defense in his mind and to us and to the public and it's very good justification of his actions. he would not be allowed to 14 |1 th |0 in court. it's not a -- to presents that in court court it is not legal defense. let me say be very specifically, not one of the 15 people who have ever been charged with mishandling classified information before petraeus, not one of the 14 have been offered the me bargain that mr. petraeus has just agreed to on the facts. not one ever them was charged with facts remotely as you serious as breach of national security as general petraeus other than snowden actually who could be charged similarly. if snowden who could be charged with the same charge that petraeus has just pled guilty to he could be charg

mr. snowden is no hero. talk in open setting why people should not think of that what he did and him as a hero. >> i don't want to say too much because i hope mr. snowden will realize the greatest country in the world has the fullest and freest criminal justice system in the world and avail himself of rights and opportunities able to defend himself in our criminal justice system if he will leave russia to come back here. i want him to get a fair trial. i don't want to dump on him too much. i would say want to describe someone like that as hero take the corpus of his work to hug whole thing. >> he carried out how many laptops? >> a lot and a lot of records. you need to look at damage to our ability to track terrorists, to attack spice. the whole corpus of work has to be looked at. >> mr. tom. >> thank you mr. chairman. your badget inside of a bill. the bill has a number one on it but the doj portion thereof you're seeking $8 billion. we have another part of this budget that's been growing exponentially, it gr

mr. snowden is no hero. can you talk in an open setting of why -- should not think -- people should not think of him as a hero? director comey: i don't want to say -- i don't want to say too much because i hope mr. snowden will realize that the greatest country in the world has the fullest and freest criminal system. and he will avail himself for the rights and opportunities of being able to defend himself in our criminal justice system. i hope he will leave russia and come back here. i want him to have a fair trial. representative: remember he carried out how many laptops? representative: many records. and so you need to look at the entire damage to our ability to track terrorists and spies, the whole network. representative: thank you, mr. chairman. the bill has a number on it, but you are seeking a billion dollars. we have another part of the budget that has been -- it has grown from one billion dollars to $7 billion. it's the federal prison budget. yet it is a bit concerned because the federal prison sys

mr. snowden. this idea that somehow government e-mails can't be hacked into and private -- >> i don't think anyone is contending that government e-mails -- i think the issue at this point is the government knows when they are hacked. private citizens don't often know when they are hacked. to the issue of convenience, setting up and maintaining your own server and the security around it seems a lot less convenient than carrying two phones. >> it existed since president clinton was president. >> let's put this in the context it deserves. this woman is about to run for president. today was her first day as a presidential candidate, right? >> it was her first campaign press conference, which i think she did very well. she did very well. >> this is not exactly the way they would have hoped to have rolled out the campaign. i think you're right. i was really surprised. i had conversations with clinton advisers yesterday that said this is a terrible idea. she needs to do warm-up interviews. i think she wa

mr. snowden is no hero. can you talk in an open setting of why penal should not think of him as a hero? >> i don't want the say too much because i hope mr. snowden will realize that the greatest country in the world has the fullest and freest criminal system no the world and he'll avail himself for the rights and opportunities of being able to defend himself in our criminal justice system if he'll leave russia and come walk here. i want him to get a fair trial. those who want to describe someone like that as a hero need to take the corpus of his work and hug the whole thing. >> remember he carried out how many laptops? >> a lot of records. and so you need to look at the entire damage to our ability to track terrorists to track spies, all of the work -- the whole corpus of work has to be looked at together. >> thank you for the extra time, members. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> the bill has a number on it but the doj portion thereof you're seeking 8$8 billion. we have another part of the budget that's been grug. it's grew from $1 billion to $7 billion. it's the federal prison budget. an

mr. snowden wanted to come back to the united states and enter a plea, we would engage with his lawyers butthen snowden said in an online chat that very same day, it's unfortunately not possible in the face of current whistle-blower protection laws. in my estimation, i don't think any of that's changed, has it? >> reporter: no, it has not. it might be just an issue that snowden is getting tired of sitting in russia. this is something that the government is not going to change on. they're not going to remove these charges. but i can see that they could make some kind of agreement whereby they could come to some terms, especially because they are interested in getting these documents back that they believe he still does have. >> i want to switch gears, bear with me as i'm reading through what appears to be the plea agreement between the united states of america and one david petraeus. he was the commander of forces in iraq and one very big rising star potentially even in american politics. until it was alleged or the plan was to charge that he had accidentally leaked some very important mater

mr. snowden. want to come back? his lawyers can argue that it's an open trial.this, the one leverage he might have and a former nsa director brought this up, he might have more intelligence and he might be able to say -- you tell me how it works with the big boys -- i could turn this over and make it worse unless you make us a deal, what do you do? >> i cut a lot of deal as u.s. attorney i wouldn't have cut if i didn't have to with people who were bad people because i got a worse person. i can't evaluate that. that's something you -- >> deals are done? >> you only know that when you evaluate what does he have what is he giving you, how much are you getting out of him. then you make a deal that's in the best interest of the government. should he goome and go to trial? of course he should. it should be by our rules. >> you think he would be happy in russia. it seems so nice there. >> under putin? last time i was in moscow it could be the most depressing trip that i took. >> stop going. >> i just came back from dubai and israel. and i spent a couple of days with bi

mr. snowden did. the fact is, the president of the u.s., his team, the cia, the fbi, and so on down the line, they all rely on secure government e-mail and other means of communication that have been deemed better than someone's computer in a basement. i think we have to assume that you tried to err on using something secure versus something that is not, unless people can supply why i am better off with gmail then government and cryptic communications. host: in an editorial this morning on usa today, laney davis responds to the anti- editorial that usa today wrote. he rose -- he wrote "fact: to those who argue that mrs. clinton's server at home was less secure than the one used i the state, i answer: really?" guest: that is a great argument, but even hillary clinton has not sat down with anybody and laid out why laney davis's claim is the case. maybe if she says i did not trust the state department e-mail to be secure, here is why. of course it will open up another pandora's box of why did you not do

mr. snowden is no hero. can you tell us out in the open of why people should not think he is a hero. >> i don't want to say too much because i want him to understand that the greatest country in the world that he will be able to avail himself of the american right to come back to america and get a fair trial and come back to american. >> and he carried out how many laptops? >> a lot of records. and you need to look at the entire damage for our ability to track terrorists and to track spies and all of the work -- the whole corpus of work has to be looked at together. >> thank you for the time. >> thank you, mr. chairman. so your budget is inside of a bill and the bill has a number on it, but the d.o.j. portion of -- you are seeking $8 billion. we have another part of this budget that's been growing exponentially, moving from $1 billion to $7 billion the federal prison budget. and it is a big concern because the federal prison system is gobbling up this budget that this committee has discretion over. and there

mr. snowden did. fact is, the president of the u.s., his team, the cia, the fbi, and so on down the line, they all rely on secure government e-mail and other means of communication that have been deemed better than someone's computer in a basement. i think we have to assume that you tried to err on using something secure versus something that is not, unless people can supply why i am better off with gmail then government and cryptic communications. host: in an editorial this morning on usa today, laney davis responds to the anti- editorial that usa today wrote. he rose -- he wrote "fact: to those who argue that mrs. clinton's server at home was less secure than the one used i the state, i answer: really?" guest: that is a great argument, but even hillary clinton has not sat down with anybody and laid out why laney davis's claim is the case. maybe if she says i did not trust the state department e-mail to be secure, here is why. of course it will open up another pandora's box of why did you not do anyt

snowden area? earth one. let's talk to mr. taylor first. >> sir i think our communication is robust with our allies across the world on this particular i u. it's not perfect. certainly the challenges within the zone in terms of free travel once an individual gets in and is able to move is understood by the eu. hence the discussions about pnr and other sorts of data exchanged between those countries to better remedy that particular circumstance that you described. it's not perfect yet, but i think they recognize the security deficit that's created with the kind of cross-border movement that is allowed within that zone at this point in time and are looking at ways in which this he can remedy that. but i would tell you that the bilateral and multi-lateral engagement on the issue of foreign fighters and sharing of day it is daily and consistent and robust. >> mr. rasmussen, in 41 seconds. >> you're right to point to an overlay or overhang from the period of disclosures that included the snowden disclosures. but i would argue since

snowden wants out. >> what do you think, mr. speaker? he could spend the rest of his life in moscow.e in the winter but it's presumably better than jail? >> look i think we can find a way to get him home and get the rest of the documents that he has not yet leaked i think it's worth doing. but i think he'll have to face jail time and i think it will be fairly lengthy. >> what do you think? >> i'm not an expert but i think more than ten years. >> more than ten. >> that would be my guess. >> some people say 30 or 40. >> i wouldn't guess about the length and i'm sure the recommendation that the prosecutor is making is going to be part of this bargain. a lot of americans think that snowden did the country a service in these leaks and that's going to be a tough issue for the justice department. >> let's move on and talk about david petraeus. he pled guilty to removing and retaining classified information as part of a plea deal a misdemeanor, if you will. they are going to recommend no jail time for him, i think a $40,000 fine. the classified information included war strategy notes from na

but someone like edward snowden -- it makes no difference to the espionage act, whether he can document's mr journalists versus whether he had given them to a foreign intelligence agency -- which he did not do. >> that is exactly right. the espionage act is effectively a strict liability offense meaning that you can raise no defense. it does not matter whether you were leaking secrets to a foreign enemy for profit or whether you're giving information to journalists and the public interests to get back to the people who have a right to know what has been done in their name. the fact the espionage act has been used on tom drake and edward snowden and john kerry a coup, stephen kim, chelsea manning, to suddenly have petraeus charged under completely different law just smacks of hypocrisy. moreover under the espionage act -- technically, petraeus should be charged under the espionage act but also with one count of making false statements and three counts under the intelligence identities protection act. and instead, he is not charged under the espionage act and in fact, he is not charged or indi

mr. netenyahu wakes up he is not seeing that universal praise which he is perhaps used to given the fact he has addressed congress twice before. >>> still ahead on the program. edward snowden'ssian lawyer says the whistleblower wants to return home to the u.s. >>> and -- we're back in a minute. ♪ >>> welcome back. our top stories on al jazeera. the u.n.'s envoy to syria says the situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly. the u.n. announced on tuesday a new round of talks between libya's two rival governments will take place in morocco. >>> the ukrainian prime minister is accusing pro-russian separatists of holding up the rescue mission at a mine following a deadly explosion. at least 30 miners are missing and feared dead after the blast. >>> and talks are underway between the iraqy and turkish defense ministers to win back the city of tikrit. >>> the lawyer of edward snowden says the american whistleblower wants to return to the u.s. he has been in russia since 2013. he was granted asylum there after leaking details of the u.s. government's mass surveillance programs. washington says snowden will have to face criminal charges if he returns. >> reporter: the man who ha