It's irrelevant what exactly he meant. The bottom line is that Google can't be trusted and he said this explicitly in the interview. Whether that be because Google doesn't care about your privacy or because they are afraid of fighting with the Government is immaterial. The end result is the same: don't trust Google.
If you don't want to use Gmail for sensitive email, by all means don't. But this is just a silly knee-jerk reaction. Even if Google is the evilest company in the world, how could their development and championing of an open WiFi standard possibly compromise your privacy?
