But Mr. Snowden denied any contact with the Chinese government and said it was “the highest honor you can give an American” to be called a traitor by Mr. Cheney, whom he denounced as “a man who gave us the warrantless wiretapping scheme as a kind of atrocity warm-up on the way to deceitfully engineering a conflict that has killed over 4,400 and maimed nearly 32,000 Americans, as well as leaving over 100,000 Iraqis dead.”

Asked why he did not go directly to Iceland, where he has said he would like to obtain asylum, Mr. Snowden said he sought a place where he was less likely to be immediately arrested.

“There was a distinct possibility I would be interdicted en route, so I had to travel with no advance booking to a country with the cultural and legal framework to allow me to work without being immediately detained,” he said. “Hong Kong provided that. Iceland could be pushed harder, quicker, before the public could have a chance to make their feelings known, and I would not put that past the current U.S. administration.”

In answering questions for about 90 minutes, Mr. Snowden said there was “no single moment” in which he decided to act, but denounced “a continuing litany of lies” both from senior government officials to Congress and Congressional leaders. In particular, he accused James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, of “baldly lying to the public without repercussion,” saying that such actions subverted democratic accountability.

Since the disclosure that the N.S.A. has been keeping records of nearly all domestic calls, Mr. Clapper has come under particular scrutiny. In March, asked at a Senate hearing whether the security agency collected “any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans,” he replied, “No, sir. Not wittingly.” He later explained that was the “least untruthful” answer he could give in a public setting about a classified program.