New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Monday said fellow Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul should face congressional hearings for this effort to force the expiration of the Patriot Act if terrorists again strike the U.S.
“What Rand Paul has done to make this country weaker and more vulnerable is a terrible thing, and for him to raise money off of it is disgraceful. It’s disgraceful,” Mr. Christie said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Mr. Christie said that as a former prosecutor, he had first-hand knowledge about how vital the Patriot Act was to combating terrorism.
The law, which was reviled by privacy rights advocates for allowing the bulk collection of millions of American’s phone records, also allows the government to use roving wiretaps of terror suspects who frequently change phones and to pursue “lone wolf” suspects who authorities are unable to link to a terror group such as the Islamic State.
“We’re going to look back on this, and he should be in front of hearings in front of Congress if there’s another attack. Not the director of the FBI or the CIA,” Mr. Christie said.
He also said that one of voters’ top concerns expressed to him on the campaign trail is the threat of the terrorist army known as Islamic State, which he said the U.S. should combat by arming and training allies in the region.
Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican, forced the expiration of the act last month. It was later replace by the USA Freedom Act, which ended government collection of telephone metadata and instead mandated phone companies store the records.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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