Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has kept up with his anti-deep state narrative and called on the Inspector General to investigate the NSA, more specifically the supposed targeting of Fox News host Tucker Carlson and other media figures, claiming "We cannot count on these people to police themselves."
"I believe that the Department of Justice and the intelligence community shouldn't threaten or spy on members of Congress, our staff, or the press for politics," said Gaetz in a Congressional committee meeting. adding "President Biden believes the same thing."
Rep. Gaetz then referred to an interview where President Biden (D) claimed in questioning with CNN's Kaitlan Collins in which the Gaetz claims Biden "committed that he would not allow the weaponization of his government against the press."
Gaetz quoted Rep. Nadler (D-NY):
"Congress must make it extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible for the department to spy on Congress or the news media. We cannot rely on the department alone to make these changes."
Rep. Gaetz then referenced "The most-watched cable news host," Tucker Carlson "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 that it is functionally an admission."
Gaetz continued, quoting the statement released by the NSA in regard to Tucker Carlson's accusations:
"On June 28, 2021, Tucker Carlson alleged that the National Security Agency has been 'monitoring our electronic communications and has been planning to leak them, in an attempt to take this show off the air.' 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 and take his program off the air."
Gaetz then looked to Chairman Nadler and said, "What is interesting is that there is no denial that they were monitoring Tucker Carlson, even if he wasn't the target. We saw this exact playbook with Carter Page and Donald Trump."
Gaetz summarized his argument by saying "It's not like the NSA has never lied to us," adding "We cannot count on these people to police themselves."
