House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is demanding an investigation into allegations that Joe Biden’s NSA is spying on Tucker Carlson. This all began when Tucker Carlson said he had a source that told him that the NSA was spying on him. The NSA denied it, but with very careful language that many people felt was suspicious.
A statement from NSA regarding recent allegations: pic.twitter.com/vduE6l6YWg
— NSA/CSS (@NSAGov) June 30, 2021
Tucker Carlson certainly didn’t take the NSA’s non-denial denial at face value.
Now, Kevin McCarthy is escalating the issue. He put out a public statement about it.
For the past several months, I've seen a disturbing trend at the National Security Agency. The NSA cannot be used as a political instrument.
I’ve asked Rep. Devin Nunes to investigate and find answers on behalf of the American people.
My full statement: https://t.co/xPjG9i9u7A
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) June 30, 2021
His statement reads:
“Earlier this year, I sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Austin expressing concern over the politicization of the Agency through the sidelining of Michael Ellis as NSA General Counsel. I asked that Mr. Ellis be reinstated and expressed my concern regarding undue political influence in NSA placing Mr. Ellis on administrative leave.
“Separately, it has recently come to my attention that NSA has refused to deliver information requested by the Republican Members on the House Intelligence Committee who are trying to fulfill their oversight responsibilities.
“Now, there is a public report that NSA read the emails of Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Although NSA publicly denied targeting Carlson, I have serious questions regarding this matter that must be answered.
“Given this disturbing trend, I’ve asked HPSCI Ranking Member Devin Nunes to investigate and find answers on behalf of the American people. The NSA cannot be used as a political instrument, and House Republicans will ensure accountability and transparency.”
This is a very good thing for multiple reasons. If Carlson’s NSA source got it wrong — and you should never blindly trust a story based on an anonymous source — the NSA’s reputation is being harmed unfairly. If they are innocent of these charges, the public should know.
On the other hand, if the NSA is flat out lying about targeting Carlson, that is an enormous scandal and a dire threat to liberty that needs to be addressed immediately.
Of course, there is also the possibility that the NSA isn’t targeting Carlson per se, but listened in on his conversations because he talked with a person they are targeting. If that’s the case, that also should come to light. We give our government an awful lot of authority to spy on people with not a lot of supervision and they often abuse that authority. If that happened with Tucker Carlson and the NSA publicly denied it, heads should roll at the agency and it should begin a conversation we should have had a long time ago about protecting the American people from being spied on by their government.
John Hawkins is the author of 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know. You can find him on Parler here and on Twitter here.
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