Senator Paul Fights Back as TSA Improperly Targets Trump Rally Attendees and Others as “Security Risks”

Last month, the nonpartisan watchdog group Empower Oversight released two letters it sent to the Department of Homeland Security regarding waste and abuse by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The first highlighted how Tulsi Gabbard was inappropriately being harassed by the TSA and followed by Air Marshals as a “security risk.” The second letter expressed the concern by an Air Marshal that his wife was placed on a “security” watch list despite having physical limitations because she peacefully attended and left Trump’s speech on January 6th.

In response to this news, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), as Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called on the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration to release documents on watchlists and screening procedures.

In his formal request, Senator Paul called for numerous unredacted copies of reports and audits and questioned the competency of a government agent pulling a Federal Air Marshal off a high-value target to instead watch a woman with limited mobility, fly with her husband, a Federal Air Marshal.