Rep. McCaul: Russia ‘thumbing nose’ at US over leaker Snowden

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday that President Obama should be doing more to pressure Russia over Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency leaker.

Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) said that the Snowden case was just the latest example of the administration not negotiating from a position of weakness. Snowden is currently holed up in the Moscow airport, and has said he will seek at least temporary asylum in Russia.

“I think we should be putting any and all pressure we have – economic, trade. I think the reset button with [Vladimir] Putin was a mistake. Clearly, it’s not working in this case,” McCaul said on “Fox News Sunday,” referring to the Russian president. “They’re thumbing their nose at the United States.”

{mosads}Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have all offered Snowden asylum, but getting to Latin America has proven challenging for the leaker.

“Every day this man’s a fugitive on the run, he puts the United States’ national security more at risk,” McCaul said.