Rand Paul: Unmasking for Political Purposes ‘Illegal,’ ‘An Abuse of Power’ that Needs to Be Investigated

Thursday on “Fox & Friends,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) reacted to the release of a list of Obama administration officials that sought to unmask former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Paul said the act to unmask Flynn amounts to “illegal eavesdropping on someone for political purposes” and needs to be investigated.

“I think it amounts to sort of illegal eavesdropping on someone for political purposes,” Paul argued. “People say oh, it’s not against the law to unmask someone, well actually it is if it’s for political purposes. So that’s what needs to be investigated. What I want to know is what possible national security reason would there be to unmask Flynn? They listened to the conversation. They obviously know who it is because they probably recognized his voice where he introduces himself, and he talks to the Russian ambassador. And so, they probably talk about a wide range of issues between Russia and the United States. I haven’t seen the transcript of this.”

He continued, “But the question is, what could they possibly think? Was Flynn saying oh, we’re going to do something that was illegal or that would threaten our national security? And why was everybody in the Obama administration listening to the phone call and finding out and knowing that it was General Flynn?”

Paul went on to say the fact that 2020 Democratic presidential nominee frontrunner former Vice President Joe Biden is a part of the unmasking is “precisely” what President Donald Trump was accused of in his dealings with Ukraine.

“Now, the fact that Joe Biden did, it was very poor judgment, but I think it was also an abuse of power,” Paul stated. “And this is precisely what they were accusing Trump of during the impeachment. They said oh, you used the power of government to go after a political opponent. That’s exactly what Biden did here. In a partisan way, he went after a political opponent — a high-ranking official of a new administration of the opposite party. So, I think it’s a devastating abuse of a power.”

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