Rand Paul asks Haspel about any CIA surveillance of Trump

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) on Tuesday sent a letter to Gina Haspel, President Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, asking for information about any surveillance the agency carried out on Trump or other candidates during the 2016 election.

In a tweet, Paul wrote that he “sent the @CIA a letter inquiring about Ms. Haspel’s involvement or coordination in possible surveillance of then-candidate @realDonaldTrump.”

Earlier today, I sent the @CIA a letter inquiring about Ms. Haspel’s involvement or coordination in possible surveillance of then-candidate @realDonaldTrump. I await a response. pic.twitter.com/BncHW1KJvY

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 15, 2018

The letter also requests information on whether the agency conducted operations to spy on other 2016 contenders, including fellow Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), as well as Paul himself.

Paul’s letter seeks answers to a number of questions about possible surveillance of 2016 candidates, including concerns about whether Trump was spied on during his 2016 trip to the United Kingdom.

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“Under what circumstances does the CIA trail, monitor, or otherwise collect information on the communications and movements of U.S. presidential candidates both domestically and while they are traveling outside of the United States?” Paul asks in the letter.

Haspel, the acting CIA director and Trump’s nominee to take over the agency from now-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, has the votes to be confirmed following a series of statements Tuesday by senators in her favor.

Paul is one of two Republicans in the Senate to announce his opposition to Haspel — the other is Arizona Sen. John McCain, who urged his colleagues to vote against Haspel over her participation in the CIA’s Bush-era “enhanced interrogation” program, which used methods now widely regarded as torture.

McCain, who is battling brain cancer, is expected to miss the vote and has not been present in Washington this year.