Glenn Greenwald leaves The Guardian four months after NSA leaks scandal

Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian journalist who covered data leaked by Edward Snowden, has announced he is leaving the British newspaper.

Glenn Greenwald said he was departing to take up a “dream” opportunity.

He told Buzzfeed website he would be involved in a “new, large-scale… media outlet”.

In a statement posted online, Glenn Greenwald said the news of this “momentous new venture” had been leaked before he had planned to announce it so he was not able to provide further details, but that it would be unveiled shortly.

“My partnership with the Guardian has been extremely fruitful and fulfilling: I have high regard for the editors and journalists with whom I worked and am incredibly proud of what we achieved,” Glenn Greenwald said.

The Guardian‘s Jennifer Lindauer said: “Glenn Greenwald is a remarkable journalist and it has been fantastic working with him.

“Our work together over the last year has demonstrated the crucial role that responsible investigative journalism can play in holding those in power to account.”

Glenn Greenwald has been fiercely criticized for his work with Edward Snowden, who is wanted in the US on espionage charges and is living under asylum in Russia.

However, Glenn Greenwald, who is a lawyer by training, said during an interview that none of the information he had published in the Guardian could have damaged national security.

In August, Glenn Greenwald’s partner David Miranda, who lives with the journalist in Rio de Janeiro, was held for nine hours at Heathrow under anti-terror laws. Police seized a number of electronic items he was carrying.

British Home Secretary Theresa May defended the move, saying the police had to act if someone had “highly sensitive, stolen information”.

David Miranda denied any wrongdoing.