--- title: Eric Holder: Edward Snowden Might Return to U.S. description: The former Attorney General said "the possibility exists" canonical: https://time.com/3947236/eric-holder-edward-snowden/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-07T00:09:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:00:07.748Z article:section: Politics og:title: Eric Holder: Edward Snowden Might Come Back og:description: The former Attorney General said "the possibility exists." og:url: https://time.com/3947236/eric-holder-edward-snowden/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3de63577a3bdacd2/698859c4524fc00153df36f2/eric-holder.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3365 og:image:height: 1893 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-HOLDER og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Eric Holder: Edward Snowden Might Come Back twitter:description: The former Attorney General said "the possibility exists." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3de63577a3bdacd2/698859c4524fc00153df36f2/eric-holder.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Eric Holder: Edward Snowden Might Return to U.S. > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 7, 2015 12:09 AM UTC  Attorney General Eric Holder walks from Air Force One after arriving with US President Barack Obama at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, March 6, 2015. Attorney General Eric Holder walks from Air Force One after arriving with US President Barack Obama at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, March 6, 2015.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 7, 2015 12:09 AM UTC A deal returning NSA leaker Edward Snowden to the U.S. [is not entirely out of the question](https://www.yahoo.com/politics/eric-holder-the-justice-department-could-strike-123393663066.html), according to Eric Holder. The former U.S. Attorney General told Yahoo News, “I certainly think there could be a basis for a resolution that everybody could ultimately be satisfied with” to return Snowden from his current asylum in Moscow. “I think the possibility exists,” he said. Holder, who is going back to work at the law firm Covington & Burling, where he worked before serving as Attorney General, said that Snowden’s actions “spurred a necessary debate” on surveillance in America. “We are in a different place as a result of the Snowden disclosures,” he said. \[[_Y_](https://www.yahoo.com/politics/eric-holder-the-justice-department-could-strike-123393663066.html)[_ahoo News_](https://www.yahoo.com/politics/eric-holder-the-justice-department-could-strike-123393663066.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3947236/eric-holder-edward-snowden/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3947236/eric-holder-edward-snowden/"},"headline":"Eric Holder: Edward Snowden Might Return to U.S.","datePublished":"2015-07-07T00:09:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:00:07.748Z","description":"The former Attorney General said \"the possibility exists\"","url":"https://time.com/3947236/eric-holder-edward-snowden/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","Edward Snowden","Eric Holder"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3de63577a3bdacd2/698859c4524fc00153df36f2/eric-holder.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3de63577a3bdacd2/698859c4524fc00153df36f2/eric-holder.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-HOLDER","caption":"US-POLITICS-HOLDER","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3947236/eric-holder-edward-snowden/","name":"Eric Holder: Edward Snowden Might Return to U.S."}}]}] ```