NBC has netted an exclusive interview with fugitive national security secret-leaker Edward Snowden, the network announced Thursday.
The prime-time chat, which will air as part of an hourlong “NBC News” special next Wednesday, will be Snowden’s first-ever American television interview.
“NBC Nightly News” anchor and managing editor Brian Williams quietly traveled to Moscow earlier this week for the “wide-ranging” sit-down with the former NSA contractor, network officials said in a press release.
“Williams’ rare and revealing in-person conversation with Snowden was conducted over the course of several hours, and was shrouded in secrecy due to Snowden’s life in exile since leaking classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs a year ago,” NBC said in the statement.
The special, to air 10 p.m. ET May 28, will also include a joint interview with Snowden and Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian columnist to whom Snowden first leaked classified NSA documents about U.S. surveillance programs.
Snowden, 30, has been living in Russia since June 2013, when he fled to the country seeking refuge from American prosecution.
He fled the U.S. after downloading classified documents related to U.S. intelligence and surveillance as a private contractor inside an NSA office. After news emerged that Snowden had stolen and leaked the documents, the U.S. government charged him with espionage and revoked his passport.
Snowden eventually landed in Moscow, where he lived in the Sheremetyevo Airport for 39 days until Russian officials granted him temporary asylum.
Earlier Thursday, a selfie photo of Snowden, Greenwald and two others spread across the Internet, reinjecting the fugitive’s name into headlines ahead of NBC’s announcement.
The photo, which also featured Greenwald’s partner, David Miranda, and filmmaker Laura Poitras, was posted by Miranda to his Facebook account early Thursday with the caption, “Snowden selfie! #selfie.”
