Government surveillance of American citizens has been a
controversial issue for years. It became more so this year when President Trump
tweeted
that “Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory.”
Trump never provided evidence of his claim, but now another Republican is
coming forward to claim that he too may have been the subject of surveillance
by the Obama Administration.
In an interview with Fox
News, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that he had “reason to believe”
that he may have been surveilled and unmasked by Obama Administration
officials. Graham believes that the surveillance was incidental and possibly
resulted from his meetings with foreign leaders in his role as a senator.
“I have reason to believe that a conversation that I had was
picked up with some foreign leader or some foreign person and somebody
requested that my conversation be unmasked,” Graham said. “I’ve been told that
by people in the intelligence community. All I can say is that there are 1,950
collections on American citizens talking to people that were foreign agents
being surveilled either by the CIA, the FBI or the NSA.”
“Here’s the concern,” Graham continued. “Did the people in
the Obama Administration listen in to these conversations? Was there a
politicizing of the intelligence gathering process? So, what I want to know: Of
the 1,950 incidental collections on American citizens, how many of them
involved presidential candidates, members of Congress from either party and if
these conversations were unmasked, who made the request? Because I want to know
everything there is about unmasking, how it works and who requested unmasking
of conversations between foreign people and American members of Congress.”
If the Obama Administration was conducting purposeful
surveillance on members of Congress, there is a possible violation of the
separation of powers under the Constitution. Surveillance of political
opponents could be used gather inside information on political strategies or
even for blackmail.
“Now if you’ve got a reason to believe that a member of
Congress is committing a crime, then you go get a warrant to follow us around
like you would any other citizen,” Graham said. “But I meet with foreign
leaders all the time. And I would be upset if any executive branch agency
listened in on my conversations, because I’m in another branch of government.”
Graham said that he was not sure if his conversations were
unmasked by Obama Administration officials. The senator sent letters to the
FBI, CIA and NSA requesting the details of any surveillance that involved him.
Graham is not the only Republican other than Trump who
believes that he may have been under surveillance. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
wrote in a letter
to President Trump in April, “An anonymous source recently alleged to me
that my name, as well as the names of other members of Congress, were unmasked,
queried or both in intelligence reports or intercepts during the previous
administration.”
The common thread among Trump, Paul and Graham is that all
three were Republican presidential candidates in 2016. In May, Paul told the Washington
Times, “There are rumors about other people who ran for president as well. I’m
concerned not only for myself but for Americans in general.”
So far, there is no firm evidence that the Obama
Administration acted improperly in conducting surveillance, but the claims by
Trump, Paul and Graham do raise serious questions about surveillance technology
and the oversight needed to prevent its abuse. The subject of surveillance of
presidential candidates and members of Congress may come when former FBI
Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee this
week.
Originally published
on The Resurgent
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