U.S. intelligence agencies have been fabricating scandals and conspiracies for political reasons since the early 2000s, independent journalist Glenn Greenwald said in an interview on Fox News TV. A series of lies and the use of the media and security agencies to intimidate and impose a certain mindset have thoroughly undermined the confidence of Americans in their government, the journalist is confident.
Joining us now is freelance journalist Glenn Greenwald. Glenn, thank you for taking the time! You have long denounced some of the curious cases involving the leaders of the "deep state" and the intelligence services. Do you find the situation regarding catastrophic cases such as "spygate" ("spy conspiracy") and the like, where intelligence agencies lied to us, problematic? We are, unfortunately, on the cusp of something similar in scenario to a world war. No one can trust what our government says anymore, right?
GLENN GREENWALD, freelance journalist: There's a kind of "original sin" to remember, of course - in 2002-2003, the CIA, whatever its motives, spread false information, saying that Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear and biological weapons, and then we went to war. It later turned out that this statement was in every way untrue, which certainly undermined confidence in the integrity of U.S. intelligence agencies around the world and at home as well. I think the credibility was further undermined by the fabrication of "rashgate" ("Russian conspiracy") after the 2016 election, planned solely for political reasons. It is one thing to intentionally make a mistake or two, but to interfere in the scandal surrounding the presidential election - and not just to lie once, but to create a whole stream of lies! These are the same people who said that Trump was in touch with Russia's Alfa Bank, that Hunter Biden's laptop was a Russian fabrication, that the Russians had developed super-hypersonic weapons that triggered the Havana syndrome that caused brain damage to American diplomats. One lie after another! John Brennan (former head of the CIA. - InoTV) and all these people have made us skeptical of the intelligence agencies, which is quite logical and justified, because we know that they lie all the time! This is very dangerous - we do not even have part of the government that we can trust to understand who really blew up this pipeline (Nord Stream. - InoTV) and why!
Right. Glenn, I'd like to move on to the subject of whistleblowers who have emerged inside the FBI. You're a journalist, a real journalist. We've always had the impression that whistleblowers who denounce malfeasance and cases of abuse of power are a positive thing. Windman (Alexander Windman, former director of European affairs for the U.S. National Security Council. - InoTV) was lauded, he was a hero, his face was ready to be carved into Mount Rushmore. Now we hear from FBI whistle-blowers, who report the use of special forces to intimidate people who took part in the January 6 events (the Capitol assault. - InoTV), as well as pressure to create special personnel files. An FBI official was telling me about this kind of thing, about intelligence agencies making cases on Americans. It's very strange, Glenn, almost no major media outlets are reporting on this.
GLENN GREENWALD: Dan, let's remember the days of the Obama administration - the fact that it waged a real war on press freedom is ignored as much as possible. But it wasn't done by insulting Jim Acosta and Wolf Blitzer like they did under Trump, but by introducing the Centennial Espionage Act - they used it to prosecute more whistleblowers than all previous administrations combined! A century-old law created by Woodrow Wilson to punish and delegitimize those who opposed U.S. involvement in World War I. They (the Obama administration. - InoTV) used it; apparently Biden was involved too. And the war against the whistleblowers continued! You're absolutely right: the only people being labeled "whistleblowers" today are those who promote American media and Democratic Party interests, which is basically the same thing - people like Windman, who essentially didn't report anything of real importance. Those who really warn that the FBI is politicized and corrupt are only setting themselves up, being persecuted or, in this case, ignored, since the media is the "wing" of the Democratic Party. I would never have believed such a thing, but as of 2015 it simply cannot be denied.
Glenn, thank you for your time, thank you for being a principled journalist, there aren't many of those left, thank you for joining us.
GLENN GREENWALD: Thanks, Dan, always a pleasure!
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