Glenn Greenwald says he feels 'no regret' after private video leaked, blames political targeting

Intimate videos of journalist Glenn Greenwald were leaked online Friday, quickly sparking widespread reaction across social media. In a statement posted on X, Greenwald confirmed he appears in the footage and said it was released “without my knowledge or consent,” calling the leak “maliciously political.”

“As for the content of the videos: I have no embarrassment or regret about them,” the 58-year-old journalist wrote. “The videos depict consenting adults engaged in intimate actions in their private lives. They all display fully consensual behavior , harming nobody.”

He added: “Obviously it can be uncomfortable and unpleasant when your private behavior is made public against your will — that’s why the behavior is private in the first place — but the only wrongdoing here is the criminal and malicious publication of the videos in an attempt to malign perceived political enemies and advance a political agenda.”

Greenwald began his career as a litigation attorney before gaining recognition for his writing on national security issues following the 2001 World Trade Center attacks. He rose to international prominence in 2013 with reports for The Guardian based on classified documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The coverage earned a Pulitzer Prize in 2014.

That same year, he co-founded The Intercept with journalist Jeremy Scahill and filmmaker Laura Poitras. Greenwald resigned from the publication in 2020, citing efforts to suppress his reporting critical of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. He now writes on Substack, where he has more than 324,000 subscribers.

Greenwald’s husband, Brazilian congressman David Miranda, died in 2023 at age 37 due to complications from a gastrointestinal infection. The couple adopted two sons from Maceió, Brazil, in 2018.