‘Part Of The Abuse’: Rand Paul Condemns FBI For Surveilling Americans

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky lambasted FBI Director Christopher Wray about surveilling Americans during a Thursday Fox News appearance.

“Part of the Democratic republic like we have is allowing dissent and having discussion over government behavior,” Paul told the hosts of “Fox and Friends.” “So, for example, Christopher Wray came to my committee and I asked him, is it appropriate, does it meet the constitutional standard to use a foreign intelligence warrant on a domestic politician such as Trump, on an American? And I indicated to him that I think it’s a lower standard because a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrant only requires probable cause of a connection to a foreign country or a foreign government, whereas the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution says probable cause of a crime. So I think a FISA warrant has a lower standard.”

WATCH:

The FBI obtained warrants under FISA to monitor communications by Carter Page and other associates of former President Donald Trump during Trump’s successful 2016 campaign for the White House. Special counsel John Durham’s investigation led to an FBI lawyer pleading guilty to charges stemming from altering documents used to obtain the warrant.

“Christopher Wray’s response to me — and this is the current head of the FBI — was, it’s no big deal,” Paul continued. “He thinks it’s fine to use FISA or foreign intelligence warrants on Americans, and a lot of people think that’s true. I don’t, but this is part of the abuse. But this is part of the same people who are still running the FBI. They have a different understanding, maybe, of what they think the FBI can and cannot do and how it should be used on Americans, but I’m going to require proof that there was actually some sort of probable cause of a crime, and I’m suspicious that there was not.”

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.