I have not heard any statement from Snowden claiming that the government was making false statements about this matter.
The government did publish an email [1] that Snowden sent to a training coordinator, disputing the ability of executive orders to supersede law. It is possible that the government did this as a distraction and it is not actually what Snowden is referring to. Nevertheless, Snowden never gets specific about his whistleblowing attempt, despite going into great details about other aspects of his story.
1. https://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/87218708448/edward-j-s...
Snowden convinced colleagues to give him their passwords: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/11/snowden...
A Google query for "Snowden stole passwords" returns a lot of results.
> supposedly gained access
He was an IT administrator who had Sudo access to pretty much everything. I’d be careful of a lot of the stuff you read in 2013. There was and still is a concerted effort to discredit Snowden and make people feel he is a traitor.
Example: why did they cancel his passport after his plane left for Russia? (To say he’s a Russian spy)
There’s a lot of examples of this. Highly recommend some of the documentaries on the subject I and some recent discussion on the topic.
The government didn't present a release claiming a substantial portion of the information was retrieved with that password list.
Ugh he didn’t break in, he had access. Also if you know anything about his case or related cases, you’d also know the proper channels don’t lead anywhere. There’s a great frontline documentary called “United States of secrets”
Even the oversight committees aren’t privy to the full details and arguably they are where the proper channels should lead. There’s heads of agencies lying to Congress and the Senate about what is happening. The judiciary can’t rule on constitutionality.... which is part of its job.
The reality is, whistleblowing the way Snowden did was the only way to put evidence in the public, such that the judiciary And public can make a decision.