Reacting to the news that NSA leaker Edward Snowden has reportedly fled Hong Kong for Moscow, Kentucky senator and 2016 presidential hopeful Rand Paul on Sunday urged Americans to suspend judgment on Snowden, calling him a truth teller who came forward to correct the Obama administration’s lies for the American people.


“I do think that when history looks at this, they are going to contrast the behavior of James Clapper, our national intelligence director, with Edward Snowden,” Paul told CNN’s Candy Crowley. “Mr. Clapper lied in Congress, in defiance of the law, in the name of security. Mr. Snowden told the truth in the name of privacy. So I think there will be a judgment, because both of them broke of the law.”


Clapper was asked by Oregon senator Ron Wyden in a March congressional hearing whether the government was collecting “any type of data at all on millions of Americans.” He responded, “No, sir.”

Paul said that cozying up to Putin’s Russa will tarnish Snowden’s reputation, but that if he takes refuge in a neutral country, he may be seen in history’s eyes as an advocate for privacy.