John Oliver took his Last Week Tonight series to a new level during last night’s episode. He and his crew really did fly to Moscow to conduct an in-person interview with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
After a segment on surveillance and the public reaction to the documents Snowden leaked in June 2013, Oliver revealed that he did fly to Moscow recently. There, he sat in a hotel for over an hour before Snowden finally showed.
Oliver played it just like he was back on The Daily Show, first asking him if he missed any aspects of his home, the U.S. When Snowden tried to give this really long-winded answer, Oliver cut him off. “Well, that’s already a way too complicated answer. The answer is, ‘I miss it a lot, it’s the greatest country in the world.’”
Oliver asked Snowden why he exposed the National Security Agency’s secrets and also wondered why Snowden wanted to expose a place he applied to work for. The comedian also tried to point out that many people didn’t really care, unless it was domestic surveillance. “Americans do not give a s**t about foreign surveillance,” Oliver told Snowden. “I think you’re right,” he replied.
One of the more interesting moments came when Oliver asked Snowden how many of the leaked documents he read.
“I’ve evaluated all of the documents that are in the archive,” Snowden replied.
Oliver was stunned. “You’ve read every single one?”
“Well, I do understand what I turned over,” Snowden said.
Oliver said that there was a difference between understanding and reading what was in the documents.
Snowden said he “recognizes the concern” that he may not have fully understood everything he leaked. He then passed the buck to the journalists that have the documents, who have to make sure that it is reported on in the “most responsible way.”
Here’s the full interview.
image courtesy of William Bernard/ACE/INFphoto.com