Epstein Secrets

09 @ 9/29/16 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019597 110 | HOW AMERICA LOST ITS SECRETS tary, the hero of the 2016 Hollywood movie Snowden (directed by Oliver Stone), and a consultant to the 2015 season of the televi- sion series Homeland. He would be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. He would attract

pst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 177 @ 9/30/16 11:09 AM | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019665 178 | HOW AMERICA LOST ITS SECRETS interviews. In the case of Stone’s movie Snowden, Wizner asked for the right to veto any shots featuring Snowden in the film. In it, he would tell handpicked journalists that he had

tries in the world from, as he put it, “secret pervasive surveillance.” That higher duty transcended any narrower legal definitions of law- breaking. Ben Wizner, a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union who has represented Snowden since October 2013, argues that Snowden’s taking of classified document

ut Russia like it’s the worst place on earth. Russia’s great. —EDWARD SNOWDEN, Moscow, 2015 EFORE FLYING TO Moscow, I arranged to have dinner with Oliver Stone at an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side of New York. I had greatly respected Stone’s ability as a film director after watching him work on Wa

E FLYING TO Moscow, I arranged to have dinner with Oliver Stone at an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side of New York. I had greatly respected Stone’s ability as a film director after watching him work on Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, a film in which I had a cameo role. I had also debated Stone

source, including Micah Lee, the Berkeley-based technology operative for the Freedom of the Press Foundation; Jacob Appelbaum, the Tor proselytizer; Ben Wizner, the ACLU lawyer; Barton Gellman; and Glenn Greenwald. “It is not me that can’t keep a secret,” Abraham Lincoln joked. “It’s the people I | | Epst_9

tate Department explicitly told: Ibid. 175 “I had spent ten years”: Hill, “How ACLU Attorney Ben Wizner Became Snowden’s Lawyer.” 176 Inthe case of Stone’s movie: Irina Alexsander, “Edward Snowden’s Long, Strange Journey to Hollywood,” New York Times Magazine, Sept. 4, 2016. 176 “I went the first six

w with author. 248 $1 million: Mike Fleming Jr, “Oliver Stone Buys Edward Snowden Russian Lawyer's ‘Novel’ Abo

Ed Snowden’s Life on Ars Technica.” 117 “an act of civil disobedience”: Mayer, “Snowden Calls Russian-Spy Story ‘Absurd’ in Exclusive Interview.” 117 Ben Wizner, a lawyer: Wizner called his representation of Snowden the “work of a lifetime.” Hill, “How ACLU Lawyer Ben Wizner Became Snowden’s Lawyer.” 118 “We'

e Chinese Puzzle Chapter Twenty-Three The Pawn in the Game PART FIVE WALKING THE CAT BACK HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020155 Chapter Twenty-Four Dinner with Oliver Stone Chapter Twenty-Five Vanishing Act Chapter Twenty-Six through the Looking Glass Chapter Twenty-Seven the Handler PART SIX CONCLUSIONS Chapter Twenty

ge also sung his praises, telling Rolling Stone “Jake [Appelbaum] has been a tireless promoter behind the scenes of our cause.” For its part, Ro//ing Stone entitled its profile of Appelbaum, “Meet the most dangerous man on the Internet.” The reason that Assange needed a replacement for this particular ev

ld from, as he put it, “secret pervasive surveillance.” That higher duty transcended him any narrower legal definitions of law-breaking. For example, Ben Wizner, a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union who represented Snowden since November 2013, argues that Snowden’s taking of classified documents w

ugh he was acting without compensation from Snowden, later received the stunning sum of one million dollars from Open Road Films, the distributor for Oliver Stone’s “Snowden” movie, for the rights to his not completed novel called “Time of the Octopus,” a story based on his story of Snowden’s stay at the airport.

ng to Moscow, I arranged to have dinner with Oliver Stone at Parma, an Italian restaurant on the upper east side of New York. I had greatly respected Stone ability as a film director after watching him work in Wall Street IT: Money Never Sleeps, a film in which I had a cameo role. I also had debated Ston

r asked Kucherena in Moscow why Snowden changed his story in direct contradiction of what Kucherena had stated, he said “Wizner.” He was referring to Ben Wizner, a top-drawer ACLU lawyer based in Washington D.C. Wizner had joined the ACLU in August 2001 after graduating NYU law school and clerking for a Feder

st of these clients were reputed to be part of Putin’s inner circle. To break the ice, I asked him about Oliver Stone. I knew he had a small role in Oliver Stone’s forthcoming movie “Snowden.” in which he plays Snowden’s lawyer in Moscow. “T was impressed by how few takes he needed to shoot my scene,” he answer

ived one call back from Kucherena’s assistant, Valentina Vladimirovna Kvirvova. She wanted to know how I knew Oliver Stone. He told her of my part in Stone’s movie Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps. That was the last he had heard from her. Meanwhile a Moscow based journalist told me that she had waited 1

mile. “It’s my first novel.” When I asked if he could arrange for me to see Snowden, he said that first I would have to first submit my questions to Ben Wizner, Snowden’s American lawyer. He made it clear to me that the exposure of Snowden to journalists, or at least the vetting of journalists, had been outs