Obama has become ‘chronic liar’: American journalist

US President Barack Obama has largely supported the surveillance programs of the National Security Agency and is “lying” about the number of lawmakers who oppose the agency’s spying activities, an American journalist in Philadelphia says.

“Let’s face it, he’s behind NSA,” said Rob Kall, who is also the founder of the OpEdNews website, a news, antiwar activism and opinion website founded in 2003.

Obama warned on Friday that NSA surveillance powers, used to prevent attacks on Americans, could lapse at midnight on Sunday unless "a handful of senators" stop standing in the way of reform legislation.

“He (Obama) says that there’s only a handful of senators blocking this, but the fact is that 45 blocked, only 54 voted for it and it’s a 60 vote threshold,” Kall told Press TV on Saturday. “He’s lying again. Obama has become a chronic liar.”

Republicans and Democrats are divided into three primary factions -- regarding NSA surveillance programs -- that do not necessarily fall in party lines.

Surveillance hawks, including Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, want a temporary reauthorization of NSA and FBI powers. Another faction, backed by the White House, supports the USA Freedom Act as a “reasonable compromise” between privacy and security.

Freedom Act is an alternative piece of proposed legislation to the Patriot Act that was signed into law by former president George W. Bush, authorizing surveillance and wiretapping of Americans.

Late last week, the Senate failed by three votes to advance the USA Freedom Act, the reform bill backed by Obama and passed overwhelmingly by the House.

A third Senate faction, including Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Ron Wyden, believe the Freedom Act does not go far enough in limiting surveillance powers.

Republicans, who control both the Senate and House of Representatives, have been unable to agree on how to deal with the expiration of the Patriot Act on Sunday.

“I am thrilled that the Patriot Act is not being renewed, its way past time when it should have been thrown into the dustbin of embarrassing aspects of American history,” Kall noted.

The NSA program has worried privacy advocates since it was exposed to journalists two years ago by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, now a fugitive in Russia.

Snowden disclosed the extent of the agency’s spying activities in June 2013. He leaked classified intelligence documents showing massive collections of phone records of Americans and foreign nationals as well as political leaders around the world.

“Ed Snowden [is an] American hero who should be brought back and completely exonerated and then elected to high office,” Kall said.

“Everything he said has been proven to be true, and not only that, his actions have led to huge changes in the way that politicians on both sides of the aisle have been acting.”

AHT/HRJ

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