Paul said he believes the NSA program conflicts with the Constitution. Paul: Snowden 'civil disobedient'

Sen. Rand Paul described NSA leaker Edward Snowden a “civil disobedient” and noted that others protesting the government like Martin Luther King Jr. had only faced short jail terms.

The Kentucky Republican told Sean Hannity on his Fox News show Monday night that Snowden only revealed a program everyone knew about. If he had leaked information about eavesdroping on enemies, Paul said, that would be a serious crime, but what he did release was a known program that Snowden and that Paul believe conflicts with the Constitution.


“On deciding when you decide to become a civil disobedient - we’ve had famous ones in our career, but some of them only had to serve, like [Henry David] Thoreau only had to serve one day in jail, Martin Luther King served 30 days in jail,” Paul said. “[Snowden] may be looking at life in prison. … People are saying, ‘Oh, he ought to just come home.’ But I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad idea if he’s facing life in prison.”

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Hannity also pressed Paul on his aspirations for 2016, pointing out that Paul’s travel schedule lately has taken him to states like Iowa and South Carolina.

Paul said he was focused on growing the party, especially to include African-Americans, and what comes after that, “we’ll see.”

“When you go to the early primary states, people do pay attention. And right now, I want them to pay attention to the fact that I want a bigger Republican Party that competes in all 50 states. I want to go from 5 percent of the African-American vote to at least 20, 25 percent of the African-American vote in one election,” Paul said.