King says the Kentucky Republican 'should be ashamed of himself.' King: Paul 'disgraceful'

Rep. Peter King says it’s “disgraceful” that Sen. Rand Paul compared Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to leaker Edward Snowden, saying Paul owes Clapper an apology.

“For Sen. Paul to compare that patriot, Gen. Clapper, with someone like Snowden, who is a traitor, who has put American lives at risk, Sen. Paul should be ashamed of himself,” King said on CNN’s “The Situation Room” on Thursday. “It’s an absolute disgrace. It’s a disgrace to me, he disgraced his office and he owes Gen. Clapper an apology immediately.”


King was responding to comments earlier this week from the Kentucky Republican, who said that Clapper lying to Congress did more damage to U.S. intelligence than the massive leak of information about the National Security Agency from Snowden.

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In March, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Clapper during a congressional hearing whether the NSA was storing data from Americans, to which Clapper responded “no, sir.” After the information revealed about the NSA by Snowden became public in June, some members of Congress accused Clapper of perjury.

King defended Clapper’s answer, saying he could not have answered Wyden’s question.

“The fact is Gen. Clapper was put in an impossible position, because the senator who asked the question had already gotten the information in a classified setting,” the New York Republican said. “He knew that Gen. Clapper could not give the full answer because it would let our enemies know what we were doing. The question was wrong. Gen. Clapper gave the best answer he could.”

The Republican rejected a letter signed by some of his colleagues, calling for Clapper to resign.

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“That comes from the isolationist wing of the party,” King said. “These are people who are apologizing for America. To me, that is not the Republican tradition. That is not the tradition of Ronald Reagan. It’s the tradition of Charles Lindbergh and the radical, left-wing democrats of the 1960s.”

King is exploring a presidential run in 2016, in part he says to challenge voices in his party like that of Paul, who is also believed to be a contender for the Republican nomination.

Ultimately, King said, he objects to the whole idea that the surveillance conducted by the NSA has violated Americans’ rights and says he opposes any of the changes recently recommended by a presidential commission.

“There is no NSA scandal,” King said. “This commission or this group is caving in to political correctness. The fact is there are no Americans that have had their rights violated. No one’s calls — no American citizens’ calls are being listened to unless they’re in contact with terrorists. No one’s name is on file; no one’s address is on file. This is a totally phony issue.”