CNN Talks to ‘Mole’ Who Live-Tweeted Michael Hayden’s Off-the-Record Comments
“So the last guy you would think would fall victim to eavesdropping might be the former head of the National Security Agency itself,” CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield said, before introducing the “mole” who did just that on an Acela train yesterday. Tom Matzzie discussed what compelled him to live-tweet a supposedly off-the-record conversation Michael Hayden was having on his cell phone. “I think you kind of sounded like a mean girl who shouldn’t have been doing what you were doing,” Banfield told him.
“Who me? Or the former head of the NSA?” Matzzie asked. “What would I do what’s wrong? He had no ex-expectation of privacy, he’s in a public place.” He added, “It’s actually newsworthy whether the former head of the NSA is making disparaging comments about the president of the United States.”
Asked why he decided to live-tweet the comments instead of writing a “journalistic piece,” Matzzie answered, “I’m not a journalist, I run a renewable energy company and I sometimes tweet.” Banfield pointed out that he’s also the former Washington director of MoveOn.org.
Hayden offered Matzzie a real interview after his office alerted him to the situation. The ended up sitting down and having a conversation, which ended with a photo that Matzzie added to his Twitter stream:
But Matzzie disputes Hayden’s subsequent denial that he was “criticizing” President Obama. “There was a very direct criticism he made, which is he joked about the president insisting on using a Blackberry after he came into office,” he said. “And he was implying that the administration should have known we’re eavesdropping on all of these foreign leaders because we told him, this Blackberry device is not secure.”
Watch video below, via CNN:
[photo via screengrab]
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