Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Wednesday demanded an inspector general investigation into allegations that Fox News host Tucker Carlson is being surveilled by the National Security Agency. \u2026<\/b>
\nRep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Wednesday demanded an inspector general investigation into allegations that Fox News host Tucker Carlson is being surveilled by the National Security Agency. \u201cThe most-watched cable news host has been stating for the last several nights that the NSA has been monitoring his communications. And amazingly, the NSA has issued a statement that is so couched, it is functionally an admission,\u201d Gaetz said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Gaetz went on to say: There is no denial that they were monitoring Tucker Carlson, even if he wasn\u2019t the target. We saw this exact playbook with Carter Page and Donald Trump, where in order to try to assess information about one person, the intelligence community will utilize authorities to go after someone else to try to ensnare their true target. I think there\u2019s probably someone in Tucker Carlson\u2019s orbit that NSA was monitoring and there was no denial that they caught up Tucker Carlson in that monitoring. And by the way there is also no denial that they planned to leak the information to try to in some way embarrass Tucker Carlson. The only denial is that they weren\u2019t expressly trying to get his show off the air. And it\u2019s not like the NSA has never lied to us. I mean, we were told there was no bulk collection of Americans\u2019 data. Turns out, there was bulk collection of Americans\u2019 data. And no one was ever held to account for that. We cannot count on these people to police themselves. And so it\u2019s my expectation that there needs to be greater review here, and so Mr. Chairman\u2026join me in calling for an inspector general investigation into any monitoring that the NSA or any other element of the intelligence community has engaged in relative to Tucker Carlson, because these denials \u2014 these couched denials \u2014 raise more questions than they provide answers. Gaetz also noted that the intelligence community has gone after the staff of both Republican and Democrat members of Congress, and called on Democrats to join him in his call. \u201cI would greatly seek any bipartisan agreement,\u201d he said. BREAKING: Congressman Matt Gaetz Demands Investigation by the Inspector General Regarding Any NSA Monitoring of @TuckerCarlson pic.twitter.com\/hajYnHBhno Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) June 30, 2021 Carlson first alleged Monday on his show that his team was told by a government whistleblower that the NSA was \u201cspying\u201d on the show\u2019s electronic communications and is planning to leak them in an attempt to take the show off air. Carlson said his own communications were provided to him as proof. The National Security Agency then issued a statement Tuesday evening addressing the allegations, which denied Carlson was a \u201ctarget\u201d and that there were \u201cplans\u201d to try to take his show off the air. It did not address whether the show\u2019s communications were being or had been collected. A statement from NSA regarding recent allegations: pic.twitter.com\/vduE6l6YWg \u2014 NSA\/CSS (@NSAGov) June 30, 2021 Civil liberties lawyer Harmeet Dhillon said on Carlson\u2019s show on Tuesday that she suspects Carlson was surveilled under the guise that the target is a foreigner: Dating back to 1947, our securities laws have said this spying may only be on foreigners \u2014 not on American citizens, but our government regularly flouts that. And we have the example of James Clapper lying to Congress about spying on American citizens and gathering millions of pieces of data on phone call records and all of that. \u201cI think what you\u2019re going to find is that you are being described as \u2018incidental\u2019 so the gathering of your information is going to be because they are really focusing on somebody else,\u201d she said. Great comments from @pnjaban on why the NSA\u2019s statement is meaningless. pic.twitter.com\/vKBSOyUNxf \u2014 Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) June 30, 2021 House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-OH) made a point similar to Gaetz and Dhillon during the hearing on Wednesday. \u201cWhile the NSA said in a carefully worded statement \u2014 I encourage all of you to read that \u2014 that Mr. Carlson was not the target, not a target, they didn\u2019t deny that they had reviewed his communications,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n