http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/?hp=ar By JENNIFER EPSTEIN |
6/16/13 9:48 AM EDT
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough doesn't know where NSA leaker Edward Snowden is, but is suspicious of some of the claims the former government contractor has made.
Citing the ongoing investigation, McDonough wouldn't talk about his or President Barack Obama's views of Snowden, though he did tell host Bob Schieffer on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday that he's unsure of whether Snowden is still in Hong Kong. "I don’t know where he is," McDonough said.
He also suggested he has some doubts about some of the claims Snowden made, including that he would have been able to access the president's personal accounts. Without getting into specifics, McDonough said it's "surely my view that [Snowden] did" overstate what he was capable of doing.
McDonough also cautioned against "some of the hyperbole that’s now being thrown around" by Snowden and others, which can "somehow cast a pall on the intelligence community" and all the hard-working, patriotic people working in the field.
