Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is demanded to know Friday if the Obama administration had surveillance ordered on his campaign not for legal reasons, but out of political motivations. He made the demands after reports that the Obama administration might have surveilled other campaigns in the 2016 presidential election.
Paul tweeted, "We need to know was there a political motivation!" with a link to an interview he had with Breitbart News.
We need to know was there a political motivation! https://t.co/9qjDzrdUKq
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 5, 2017
"We’ve had several people come to us and say that it happened," he told Breitbart News. "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."
“I don’t have any facts to say it happened. But numerous sources are coming to us saying it did happen so I want to search through, find out why I wasn’t notified," he added. "Was it on purpose?”
Earlier Friday Paul said that he had requested from the White House and the Senate and House Intelligence Committees information on whether he had been surveilled by the Obama administration.
He also posted the original story from Circa outlining the claim that thousands of Americans had been surveilled in 2016. "Did the Obama admin use warrantless 'wiretapping' on other candidates" besides Donald Trump, he asked.
During his final year in office, President Obama's team significantly expanded efforts to search National Security Agency intercepts for information about Americans, distributing thousands of intelligence reports across government with the unredacted names of U.S. residents during the midst of a divisive 2016 presidential election.
Circa is requesting the Trump administration release information that relates to the spike in surveillance during 2016.
Circa has formally requested that the Trump administration declassify records showing how often government officials have searched National Security Agency intercepts for intelligence on U.S. presidential candidates, members of Congress, journalists, clergy, lawyers, federal judges and doctors and how often such Americans had their identities unmasked by the intelligence community after Barack Obama made it easier to do so in 2011.
President Trump had made the claim that his campaign was surveilled by former President Obama during the 2016 election at Trump Tower. Detractors said that if members of his team were surveilled under FISA regulations (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), then that would have meant there was credible evidence of collusion with Russia in order to obtain warrants.
Both accusations are currently being investigated by intelligence committees in the House and in the Senate.
