Edward Snowden has slammed the decision by President Donald Trump to fire FBI Director James Comey Tuesday.
“This FBI Director has sought to jail me on account of my political activities,” Snowden tweeted. “If I can oppose his firing so can you.”
In an earlier tweet, Snowden wrote that “every American should condemn such political interference in the Bureau’s work.”
Snowden, the former CIA employee who exposed global surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency and others, has previously railed against Trump’s approach to intelligence gathering.
In March, the whistleblower — who was granted asylum in Russia and is currently living in Moscow — rubbished accusations that former President Obama had “tapped” Trump Tower. “If Donald Trump or anyone else wants us to take this seriously, they have to show evidence,” Snowden told The Intercept. “And the fact that they have not despite the severity of this allegation means that they’re trying to make political hay — I suspect — out of something that affects all of us, which is that mass surveillance is making all of us vulnerable.”
Trump, in turn, has in the past threatened to execute Snowden. “I think he’s a terrible traitor, and you know what we used to do in the good old days when we were a strong country? You know what we used to do to traitors, right?,” he said, during an appearance on Fox and Friends in 2013.
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Write to Joseph Hincks at joseph.hincks@time.com