House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., directed Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee this week to investigate the National Security Agency over concerns of “politicization.”
The request comes following recent allegations made by Fox News host Tucker Carlson against the ultra-secretive intelligence agency.
Carlson said he had received evidence that the NSA has been spying on him illegally in an effort to get his show yanked from the air.
“A whistleblower, who is in a position to know, repeated back to us information about a story that we are working on that could have only come directly from my texts and emails,” Carlson explained.
McCarthy noted there has been a “disturbing trend” of the intelligence community targeting its political opponents.
“The NSA cannot be used as a political instrument, and House Republicans will ensure accountability and transparency,” he said.
The NSA responded to Carlson in a statement this week and vaguely denied the bombshell report, but cautiously stopped short of saying it hadn’t read Carlson’s emails.
“This allegation is untrue. Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air,” an NSA spokesperson said.
“We target foreign powers to generate insights on foreign activities that could harm the United States,” the statement continued. “With limited exceptions (e.g. an emergency), NSA may not target a US citizen without a court order that explicitly authorizes the targeting.”
McCarthy said the NSA’s response does not clear up anything.
“There is a public report that NSA read the emails of Fox News host Tucker Carlson,” he said. “Although NSA publicly denied targeting Carlson, I have serious questions regarding this matter that must be answered.”
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., ranking minority member of the House Intelligence Committee, will lead McCarthy’s proposed investigation into the NSA, McCarthy said.
