"I know about the information of the CIA’s conclusions only by reading it in the media. There are eight people in congress who get briefings on intelligence. That's not democracy," Rand Paul said outside of an exclusive CIA briefing he and most senators were barred from attending pic.twitter.com/rlKMVVDho1 — POLITICO (@politico) December 4, 2018

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is railing against the “deep state” over the limitations on CIA Director Gina Haspel‘s briefing to lawmakers on Saudi Arabia.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Paul ranted about being denied a briefing with Haspel on the latest developments in the investigation of Jamal Khashoggi‘s death. Haspel was conspicuously absent from last week’s briefing on the matter to the entire Senate, and today, Paul said that intelligence officials withholding information from Congress is “the very definition of the deep state.”

Paul made his point by saying Congress has to know if the reports are true about the CIA’s “high confidence” assessment on the Saudi Royal Family’s involvement in Khashoggi’s murder. When Paul was asked if he blames the White House at all for supposedly restricting Haspel, he continued to blast the intelligence community by comparing them to an “oligarchy.”

“The definition of the deep state is when intelligence communities have so much power that there’s no oversight,” Paul said. “There are eight people in congress who get briefings on intelligence. That’s not democracy.”

Watch above via Politico.

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