Policy

New York Times Columnist Andrew Sorkin Would 'Almost' Arrest Glenn Greenwald for Committing Journalism

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Below is a brief comment from New York Times financial columnist Andrew Sorkin at CNBC's Squawk Box showing a bit of contempt for journalism that insists on operating independently of the government's desires, as is currently the case with the Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian helping Edward Snowden get the word out about the National Security Agency's surveillance of Americans:

For those who can't watch, Sorkin says, "I would arrest him and I would almost arrest Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who seems to be out there … he wants to help him get to Ecuador."

I don't know what it means to "almost" arrest somebody. I assume Sorkin wants to intimidate Greenwald with the possibility of arrest to get him to stop actually helping his leaker, rather than just using him to get killer stories and then just abandoning him to government retaliation?

The statement prompted Glenn Greenwald to tweet "Should the NYT editors & reporters who published classified information about false Iraq WMD claims be arrested?" at him. (More of the exchange can be read here at Talking Points Memo)