Earlier this year, President Trump made national headlines when he claimed that he was wiretapped by his predecessor, Barack Obama. Months later, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is making similar claims about being surveilled by political opposition.
“We’ve had several people come to us and say that it happened. I don’t have access to that information, but I’ve been very concerned that too many Americans’ information is being culled through without a warrant,” Paul said to Breitbart News in an exclusive interview.
Although Paul makes it clear that he does not have evidence to substantiate his claim at the present moment, he is being alerted by credible sources that the surveillance did take place. Paul not only wants answers, but also wants to make sure that this type of spying isn’t used by government officials for the purposes of social control.
“There’s a lot of things to be found out, particularly since we found out that Susan Rice was unmasking people and we need to know was there a political motivation, because one of the real dangers in a free society is if government gets so powerful it’s listening to all of our phone calls, the possibility of extortion, the possibility of blackmail — all of that goes up exponentially,” Paul said.
Wikileaks’ “Vault 7” disclosures showed that the Obama administration gave unprecedented new powers to the CIA. NSA whistleblower Bill Binney has said that Trump’s surveillance claims were absolutely correct because the federal government is peering in on everyone at all times. Paul’s concerns create additional focus on the fact that the 4th Amendment of the Constitution is a distant remnant of the past.
“This is very very worrisome, and what we’ve allowed to happen,” Paul said.