actually not foia, but in ben rhodes' book.
Ben Rhodes' Book Proves Obama Officials' Lies, and His Own, About Edward Snowden and Russia
It is hard to overstate the sociopathy of US national security officials: their casual willingness to blatantly lie about the gravest matters is limitless.greenwald.substack.com
...In other words, Rhodes — who has spent years insinuating that Snowden is a Russian spy and traitor given his "choice” to flee to Russia — knew in real time that Snowden never planned to stay even one day in Russia. He had only flown to Moscow from Hong Kong with the intent to immediately fly from Moscow to Havana, and then on to either Ecuador or Bolivia to obtain asylum. Prior to landing in Moscow, Snowden and his representatives had secured a commitment from the Cuban government to allow him safe passage through Havana on his way to South America.
The only reason Snowden is in Russia is because of the actions of Rhodes and his fellow Obama officials to deliberately trap him there: first by invalidating his passport so that he could not board any international flights, and then by threatening the Cuban government that any chance for normalization with the U.S. would be permanently destroyed unless they withdrew their guarantee to Snowden of safe passage through Havana, which they then did. Here's Rhodes in his own words, boasting about what he regards as his success:
If I was in Hawaii and trying to fly to South America. Hong Kong is the wrong direction. Moscow is even further in the wrong direction.
He left Hawaii in May of 2013 for Hong Kong.
He spent about a Month in Hong Kong hiding. On June 22 2013 after he started releasing data the US revoked his passport. He met with Russian diplomats in Hong Kong.
On June 23 2013 he flew to Moscow.
South America my ass. He ran to Russia, and after all this time never left.
There are multiple conflicting reports of his intentions. He is still in Russia right now... That says a lot.
