Snowden’s girlfriend has nothing to do with any of Snowden’s actions.*

*That is unless he was lying about his salary to impress his gf, in which case that relationship was/is on rocky ground and further indicts his character and judgment. It’s not about her. At all.

There’s no evidence she knows anything about what happened, and isn’t involved in the story. Of course, because she’s a young, attractive woman, it adds to the salaciousness of the story (and sex sells papers). So that’s about the only reason she’s even part of the story.