Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz urged for an independent inspector general review into the allegations that the NSA spied on Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
A House Judiciary Committee hearing this Wednesday on the possibilities to prevent “prosecutorial abuse of power” when prosecuting these leaks given a timely forum for lawmakers to deal with Carlson’s allegations.
“Join me in asking for an investigation by the inspector general into any spying that the NSA has done, concerning Tucker Carlson,” Gaetz said to Jerry Nadler (NY), the current Democratic Judiciary Committee Chairman.
Gaetz stressed that he had condemned the seizure of documents from Democrat lawmakers and reporters, calling for an outrage from both sides of the aisle: “If Democrats don’t support this, if you are only outraged when your members are targeted, then we will never solve anything.”
This Monday, Carlson revealed that a government whistleblower inside the NSA warned his team that the agency was spying on their communications and was planning to use the data they collected to have the show removed from the air.
The NSA put out a comment denying the scheme to spy on Carlson.
“This accusation is not true,” the NSA responded. “Tucker Carlson has never been a target of the NSA and we have never attempted to remove his show.”
Gaetz said that this comment was “so couched, it is essentially an admission.”
“What is strange is there is no direct denial that they spied on Tucker, even if he was not the target,” Gaetz said. “There was probably someone inside Carlson’s circle that the NSA was spying on.”
“I am equally angered when they target the people I don’t like and the people I do like,” said Gaetz.
Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, the top member on the committee, also spoke about Carlson’s allegations when talking about due process issues with intelligence collection.
“Tucker Carlson said on his show that the NSA was watching his communications,” Jordan said. “While the NSA said that he was not the target, they did not deny they had watched his communications.”
Author: Blake Ambrose