Rand Paul: Obama was 'involved intimately' in Flynn case, origins of Russia probe

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says President Obama was “involved intimately” in the federal government's case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn and in the origins of its Russia collusion probe known as Crossfire Hurricane.

“I think there's a great deal of evidence that not only was President Obama involved intimately in the Flynn case and directing it, but that he also was involved in the Crossfire Hurricane," Paul told Just the News on Tuesday, during a conference call briefing on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reform. "The whole beginning of this thing to go after the Trump campaign."

Paul also suggested Obama was involved in the surveillance of Carter Page, who was a foreign policy adviser for the 2016 Trump presidential campaign, which was suspected of colluding with Russia to influence the outcome of the election. 

Paul, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was asked if he thinks there should be a congressional investigation into the Obama White House’s involvement.

“I think it's important that people know that this was directed by President Obama," he said. "We should ask more questions on whether or not the Crossfire Hurricane turns out to be a bungled investigation predicated on things that were in a dossier that was promulgated by Democrat operatives, then turned out to be untrue.” 

“With $35 million investigating it, they found nothing and the question is whether or not this was all set up by Obama operatives without question. How much did Obama know? Somebody ought to ask that question,” he also said.

Paul argued that the “only way to fix” FISA is to “take Americans out of it” completely.

"It's a secret court. It doesn't have a constitutional standard. It has a less than constitutional standard so this court shouldn't be used on Americans," he said. "If you want to use it to prevent spies and terrorists, by all means, do it. But we shouldn't be going after political campaigns. I mean, I can't believe other people don't get this – the great horror, even if you're a liberal or progressive democrat, the horror of the intelligence community with all their powers of eavesdropping going after a political campaign."

The Libertarian-minded Paul has introduced an amendment to the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act of 2020 that would require the federal government to first obtain a warrant from a federal court in order to “surveil” an American citizen.