U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is trying take “credit” and position himself as the man who got released a list of Obama officials who may have requested the unmasking of a government official snagged in Intelligence intercepts. That official turned out to be Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, who pleaded twice to lying to the FBI and served as a paid, unregistered foreign agent to Turkey while working for the Trump transition team.
Unmasking, by the way, is not only legal, but done more than 10,000 times a year.
Sen. Paul is also suggesting he will get the Director of National Intelligence (Acting), Richard Grenell, to testify about the list before the Senate.
He won’t.
In fact, what he’s asserting is false – and a top national security lawyer, and an NSA letter to DNI Grenell prove it.
Here’s what just happened.
Senator Paul tried stirring up the Internet at 2:38 PM:
2:52 PM:
Paul, who engages in conspiracy theories and pushes false information from his seat in the Senate, posted this tweet apparently knowing it was all-but-a-lie:
Here’s why – he knew DNI Grenell would not be appearing before the Senate, but it makes him sound powerful to say he’s asked him to:
Here’s Paul continuing his hoodwinking – 3:21 PM – why specifically target Biden? This is false, also, but it’s great fodder for Trump’s MAGA KAG crowd who don’t know or care what unmasking is.
Here’s a top national security lawyer explaining why Paul is wrong:
More circus tweeting – 3:23 PM:
So, as it turns out, Grenell requested the unmasking information 10 days ago – which puts a huge hole in Paul’s attempt to grab “credit” for all this by suggesting he started it all yesterday.
And here’s that top national security lawyer again, Bradley Moss, blowing more holes into Sen. Paul’s rantings: