Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) explained why he believed former President Barack Obama was part of the intelligence community’s apparent effort to “entrap” former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, during an interview with Fox News Channel’s Martha MacCallum.
First, the Kentucky Republican pointed to the lapses protocol that led to the accused criminal behavior.
“[W]e never should have been listening to his phone call, and we shouldn’t have been trying to entrap him into or create a crime,” he said. “They never thought he committed any crime. They brought him in to try to create a crime. What a terrible travesty of justice. This needs to be done with. I thought we were already done with it, and I surely hope that we are going to finally be done with it. But the ultimate thing for us and the legislature is, we should not let these abuses of power happen again, and I’m pushing hard to make sure that we take this power away from government.”
Paul then explained why he believed Obama was in the mix.
“I don’t believe any of this could have happened without President Obama. I completely believe that not only did he know — and others have already said that he knew about the conversation, he knew about trying to go after General Flynn and that it was being directed from the White House. So I have every expectation that President Obama is in the middle of this. But I think it’s worse. I think you go back to Operation Crossfire Hurricane, the whole fake dossier and all the stuff, all of the FISA warrants that were I think improperly and illegally gotten started on the Trump campaign, I really strongly believe that President Obama gave specific and direct oversight and direct permission for this. Think about it. We have never allowed a secret court to be used against a presidential campaign. Don’t you think that was sensitive enough that it went all the way to the very top? So, yes, the media have treated President Obama with kid gloves. Someone needs to ask him directly, did you approve of Operation Crossfire Hurricane? I think the answer is yes.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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