Earlier this month, we wrote about how German Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s government was trying to block Ed Snowden from testifying before a German Parliamentary committee‘s hearings into NSA surveillance. That fight is apparently getting nasty. German lawmakers have so far ignored the pressure, and have said that they still want to question Snowden (though it‘s not yet clear how this will be done).

However, it seems the fight is getting nasty. It appears that Merkel‘s government hired a DC-based law firm to send a ridiculous letter threatening German law makers with possible criminal prosecution in the US for talking to Snowden. No joke.