'I not only voted against Brennan, I filibustered his nomination,' Paul says. Paul: Fire Brennan

Sen. Rand Paul on Friday became the latest senator to call for CIA Director John Brennan to go, concluding he should “be relieved of his post.”

The Kentucky senator has been a persistent critic of the Central Intelligence Agency, famously filibustering Brennan’s nomination to lead the agency in 2013 on the Senate floor for nearly 13 hours.


Paul said Brennan should step down after inspector general report revelations this week that the CIA improperly accessed computers being used by Senate staffers to research the agency’s interrogation and detention practices.

( Also on POLITICO: Obama: 'We tortured some folks')

“I not only voted against Brennan, I filibustered his nomination. It is illegal for the CIA to spy on Americans and an affront to our Republic to spy on the Senate. Brennan told the American people that the CIA did not spy on the Senate but now he admits that they did. Brennan should dismiss those responsible for breaking the law and be relieved of his post,” Paul said in an emailed statement.

President Barack Obama on Friday said he had “full confidence” in Brennan but said “some very poor judgment was shown in how that was handled.”

“Keep in mind, though, that John Brennan was the person who called for the IG report, and he’s already stood up a task force to make sure that lessons are learned and mistakes are resolved,” Obama said.

( Also on POLITICO: 2 Dems: CIA Director John Brennan should resign)

After reviewing the IG report on the computer searches, Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Mark Udall of Colorado on Thursday also asked that Brennan step down.

“The CIA unconstitutionally spied on Congress by hacking into Senate Intelligence Committee computers. This grave misconduct not only is illegal, but it violates the U.S. Constitution’s requirement of separation of powers,” Udall said then. “There must be consequences.”

— Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report