3 News can reveal the United States' most powerful lawyer, Attorney-General Eric Holder, will visit New Zealand next week.
He's responsible for trying to extradite Kim Dotcom to face copyright charges, and will attack that issue head on while here.
Mr Holder is in charge of the Department of Justice. The buck stops with him when it comes to Dotcom's extradition to the United States.
He'll be here next week, speaking at the University of Auckland on a highly relevant topic: cyber crime and international cooperation.
Obviously, Mr Holder wants Dotcom back in the US to face copyright charges.
But 3 News asked 1000 Kiwi voters what they thought, and, while 48 percent said Dotcom should stay, almost as many – 42 percent – said he should go, extradite him. The rest didn't know.
But if it did come down to a popular vote, Dotcom would come close to being put on a flight. Unsurprisingly, given the political carnage he's been causing, Labour want Dotcom to stay and get a "fair go".
"We need a fair judicial process," says Labour Party leader David Shearer. "He needs to be given a fair go."
While public opinion is split over Dotcom, Labour says attacks on Prime Minister John Key are justified.
"The whole point about Kim Dotcom is that he was spied on illegally," says Mr Shearer.
Opinion was also divided on whether the GCSB spies should be trusted to act in the best interests of New Zealanders. A slight majority, 50 percent, said yes. But 40 percent said no, we don't trust them. The rest, 10 percent, didn't know.
"It means nearly half of people don't have confidence in our intelligence agencies," says Mr Shearer. "That's an appalling result. We need to rebuild that confidence, and that means a full, independent inquiry."
So the Dotcom show goes on, with a very important American visitor about to take centre stage.
3 News
source: newshub archive
