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Sen. Rand Paul announced Friday that he has formally requested information from the White House and the Intelligence Committee on whether the Obama administration ever surveilled him.

I have formally requested from the WH and the Intel Committees info on whether I was surveilled by Obama admin and or the Intel community! Paul wrote on Twitter.

(Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

In two separate tweets, Paul also asked: Did the Obama admin go after presidential candidates, members of Congress, journalists, clergy, lawyers, fed judges? and Did the Obama admin use warrantless wiretapping on other candidates besides @realDonaldTrump?

On March 4, Donald Trump declared on Twitter that the Obama administration wiretapped his offices during the presidential campaign. The president said he had evidence of this, and told Tucker Carlson days later that you will see some interesting things going to the forefront over the next few weeks, though nothing ever came to the forefront. (RELATED: Donald Trump: Nunes Proved Me Right)

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Rand Paul Wants To Know If The Obama Admin Spied | The Daily ...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has "formally requested" more information from the White House and the intelligence community on whether he was "surveilled" by the Obama administration during the presidential election, he said Friday.

"Did the Obama admin go after presidential candidates, members of Congress, journalists, clergy, lawyers, fed judges?" Paul tweeted. "Did the Obama admin use warrantless "wiretapping" on other candidates besides @realdonaldtrump?

President Trump tweeted an unfounded claim in early March that President Barack Obama Obama had ordered Trump Tower phones to be "wiretapped" during the election.

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DES MOINES, IA - FEBRUARY 1: Senator Rand Paul (R-TX) speaks during a caucus day rally at his Des Moines headquarters on February 1, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa. The Presidential hopeful was accompanied by his wife, Kelly, mother, Carol Wells and his father, former Congressman Ron Paul. Pauls were there to thank all the staff and volunteers for all their hard work in Iowa. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 16: U.S. President Donald Trump, right, acknowledges US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), left, prior to signing H.J. Res. 38, disapproving the rule submitted by the US Department of the Interior known as the Stream Protection Rule in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on February 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. The Department of Interior's Stream Protection Rule, which was signed during the final month of the Obama administration, 'addresses the impacts of surface coal mining operations on surface water, groundwater, and the productivity of mining operation sites,' according to the Congress.gov summary of the resolution. (Photo by Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images)

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and other members of the House Freedom Caucus hold a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) arrives for a classified briefing on the airstrikes launched against the Syrian military, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., April 7, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

U.S. Republican presidential candidate and Rand Paul speaks at a campaign rally in the Olmsted Center at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Brian C. Frank/File Photo

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and wife, Kelly, arrive on the red carpet for the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner in Washington, U.S., April 30, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Senator Rand Paul talks to supporters at a campaign stop at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum in Knoxville, Iowa, January 29, 2016. REUTERS/Scott Morgan

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks to the media about repealing Obamacare after playing golf with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 2, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Republican U.S. presidential candidates (L-R) U.S. Senator Rand Paul, Governor Chris Christie, Dr. Ben Carson, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio, former Governor Jeb Bush and Governor John Kasich pose together onstage at the start of the debate held by Fox News for the top 2016 U.S. Republican presidential candidates in Des Moines, Iowa January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young

U.S. Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Rand Paul speaks at the New Hampshire GOP's FITN Presidential town hall in Nashua, New Hampshire January 23, 2016. REUTERS/Mary Schwalm

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Senator Rand Paul takes a photo with Scott Blum of Monroe, Iowa, after speaking at a campaign stop at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum in Knoxville, Iowa, January 29, 2016. REUTERS/Scott Morgan

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 07: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) (C) speaks about Obamacare repeal and replacement while flanked by members of the House Freedom Caucus, during a news conference on Capitol Hill, on March 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. The House of Representatives is currently working on a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Senator Rand Paul (R-TX) fires an AR-15 rifle at CrossRoads Shooting Sports in Johnston, Iowa, January 17, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 16: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., attends a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Dirksen Building featuring testimony by David Friedman, nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel, February 16, 2017. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 19: Sen. Rand Paul and Kelley Paul attend the Capitol File 58th Presidential Inauguration Reception at Fiola Mare on January 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Capitol File Magazine)

UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 15: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during the House Freedom Caucus news conference on Affordable Care Act replacement legislation on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. Behind Sen. Paul from left are Rep. Tom, Garrett, R-Va., Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 28: Kelley Paul and her husband, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, at the National Gallery of Art on September 28, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Shannon Finney/Getty Images)

UNITED STATES - AUGUST 6: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks at the annual Fancy Farm Picnic in Fancy Farm, Ky., on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

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Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Community, said later that, upon reviewing classified intelligence reports from the previous administration, he had seen no evidence that Trump was ever illegally surveilled. FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers corroborated that assessment in a March hearing before the committee.

In both tweets, Paul linked to an article by the publication Circa that said Americans overseas had had their information collected, "searched," and "disseminated" by the National Security Agency "after President Obama loosened privacy protections" in 2011. The article cited the Statistical Transparency Report published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence earlier this week.

Paul sent a letter to President Donald Trump on April 10 asking him to investigate a claim made to him by an "anonymous source" that his name was "unmasked" in intelligence reports collected under the Obama administration. He cited "revelations" that people associated with the Trump campaign had had their names unmasked as warranting an investigation into "allegations that myself and other elected members of the legislative branch may have also been unmasked."

Paul's letter came roughly a week after reports surfaced that Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, tried to learn the identities of officials on Trump's transition team whose conversations with foreign officials were incidentally collected during routine intelligence-gathering operations.

The intelligence reports obtained by Rice, who served from 2013 to 2017, "were summaries of monitored conversations primarily between foreign officials discussing the Trump transition, but also in some cases direct contact between members of the Trump team and monitored foreign officials," Bloomberg's Eli Lake reported at the time.

"I ask that your administration promptly investigate whether my name or the names of other Members of Congress, or individuals from our staffs or campaigns, were included in queries or searches of databases of the intelligence community, or if their identities were unmasked in any intelligence reports or products," Paul wrote in April.

Unless Paul or his staffers were communicating with monitored foreign agents, it is unlikely their names would be unmasked by high-level Obama administration officials such as Rice, who received these intelligence reports daily.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authorizes the US intelligence community to surveil non-US persons "reasonably believed to be located outside the United States" in order to "acquire foreign intelligence information." US persons caught up in those monitored communications must have their identities "minimized," and then the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court must "review the sufficiency" of the intelligence community's minimization procedures.

The restrictions on how intelligence agencies handle "non-publicly available US person information acquired from Section 702 collection of non-US person targets" must be "consistent with the needs of the government to obtain, produce, and disseminate foreign intelligence information."

"The identities of US persons may be released under two circumstances: 1) the identity is needed to make sense of the intercept; 2) if a crime is involved in the conversation," said Robert Deitz, a former senior counselor to the CIA director and former general counsel at the National Security Agency.

"Any senior official who receives the underlying intelligence may request these identities," Deitz said, noting that while "the bar for obtaining the identity is not particularly high, it must come from a senior official, and the reason cannot simply be raw curiosity."

Steve Slick, a former CIA operations officer and NSC official who now heads the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said that "by definition, any report that the NSA elects to disseminate is relevant to a foreign or national-security issue."

But it is "often not possible for a consumer or reader to fully understand the significance of a report without knowing precisely which US person may have been communicating with the foreign official," he added.

SEE ALSO: We now have a better idea who's behind 'unmasking' Trump officials' contact with foreign agents and why NOW WATCH: The 9 best memes from Trump's first 100 days in office

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Rand Paul requests information on whether Obama administration was spying on him - AOL

Senator Rand Paul sent out a cryptic message on Twitter Friday morning, saying that he "hasformally requested from the WH and the Intel Committees info on whether I was surveilled by Obama admin and or the Intel community."

I have formally requested from the WH and the Intel Committees info on whether I was surveilled by Obama admin and or the Intel community!

This closely aligns with President Donald Trump's claim that he was wiretapped by Obama administration officials duringthe 2016 campaign in his New York office.

Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!

Paul also wrote,"Did the Obama admin go after presidential candidates, members of Congress, journalists, clergy, lawyers, fed judges? Did the Obama admin use warrantless 'wiretapping' on other candidates besides (Donald Trump)?" in two separate tweets.

Did the Obama admin go after presidential candidates, members of Congress, journalists, clergy, lawyers, fed judges? https://t.co/h7rsjvNLHM

Did the Obama admin use warrantless "wiretapping" on other candidates besides @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/h7rsjvNLHM

In April, it wasdiscovered that former National Security Advisor to Barack Obama, SusanRice, was directly involved with surveilling President Trump'scampaign efforts in 2016.

What was produced by the intelligence community at the request of Ms. Rice were detailed spreadsheets of intercepted phone calls with unmasked Trump associates in perfectly legal conversations with individuals, U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenovatold The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group.

Michigan Targets Parents in Genital Mutilation Investigation

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Rand Paul Hints He May Have Been Surveilled by Obama in 2016 - Townhall

redbrn.comI was at one of those infamous D.C. cocktail parties the other night when Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of the two most libertarian-leaning members of the House of Representatives, sidled up to me at the bar and croaked, "How ya liking our new trillion-dollar budget deal?!"

The $1.16 trillion agreement hikes current spending levels, largely by vomiting forth $93.5 billion worth of "Overseas Contingency Operations" (OCO)a disreputable gimmick that current Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has long and correctly railed against. Unlike the budgetary "dark ages" and government-dismembering prophesied by dullard hysterics in the media, this latest last-minute Continuing Resolution very predictably maintains just about every pre-existing spending level and pet project/agency. A House vote is scheduled for this afternoon.

So who's against it? Massie's pal Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), for one. Paul has a piece over at Breitbart.com explaining why:

It not only rejects President Trump's calls for cuts to multiple agencies, but it increases their funding by millions of dollars.

It paves the way for those agencies to engage in more "use it or lose it" September spending.

It leaves our deficit at well over $500 million. []

Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen tried to warn us in 2010 when he called debt "[t]he most significant threat to our national security." History is littered with the ruins of nations who fast-tracked their own decline by becoming overextended. []

[A]s long as we continue to spend with abandon, pile it on the backs of the taxpayers we claim to serve, and pretend it's all okay, we are ultimately our own worst enemies.

Read my interview with Massie last month basically predicting all this, and my April 2016 column asserting that the GOP's abdication on budgetary/sequestration issues helped sink Rand Paul's presidential bid. Below, Nick Gillespie helps explain why maintaining a "Pentagon slush fund" is no way to run a country.

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Rand Paul: Budget Deal Should Be Renamed 'The Status Quo Protection Act' - Reason (blog)

Every business owner makes mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are small. Other times, those mistakes can cost them their business. Its best to learn from the examples of others so that you can avoid making the same mistakes yourself. Here are ten common mistakes that any business owner could make.

10. Being Impatient.

This is such a big mistake because its one that can be made time-and-time again. Sometimes, it doesnt have a significant impact on the business. Other times it pushes business owners to make rash decisions that hurt the future of their business. The success of a business isnt built overnight. It will take times, possibly more than a decade. Dont let an impatient desire to get rich quick force you into making unwise decisions.

9. Hiring Too Soon.

This is a lesson that can be learned from the big companies. They put potential employees through a wide array of interviews and assessments before sealing the deal. Of course, they have substantial funds to invest in the hiring procedures. Small businesses may not have these funds, and so they often rush through the process and hire someone too early.

Hiring the wrong person can have a significant impact on your business. It has a substantial impact on a large business and even bigger impact on small businesses. Take the time to fully interview potential employees multiple times before signing any deals, contracts, or employment papers.

8. Not Counting The Competition.

Its not unheard of for small business owners to think they are the only fish in the sea. This is particularly the case in very niche markets. However, you should always assume that you have competition. Furthermore, its a good idea to assume that competition is dong well for itself. Dont get too comfortable in the water.

7. Not Preparing For Their Market.

Not every business owner is truly passionate about the market they work with. Thats understandable. If there is a good chance for profiting in an individual market, then why not take advantage of that? However, they often make the mistake of misreading the market because they dont fully understand it. Spend time researching and getting to know the intricacies of a market before actually taking a chance.

6. Not Preparing Financially.

Another preparation mistake any business owner can make is not making the right amount of capital. It takes money to make money in the world of entrepreneurship. Even the best products or services arent going to build their website, market themselves, and then pay taxes. Take time to raise capital before launching any serious endeavors.

5. Not Taking The Lead.

A successful company needs competent employees, and those employees need a strong leader. Some business owners feel that they arent cut out for the leadership role. They become weak leaders and because of that their business suffers. Being a strong leader doesnt mean being cruel or separated from employees. It means setting a goal, communicating it, and inspiring employees to reach that goal together.

4. Not Admitting Their Weaknesses.

This is particularly the case for small business owners that start off looking successful. They forget that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, including themselves. Because of that, they make quick decisions without consultation. Never be afraid to admit your weaknesses and seek advice when you need it.

3. Not Valuing Their Assets.

The most important asset of any business is its employees. A business owner that doesnt value their employees is making a huge mistake. Morale will drop and with that so does productivity. Numbers will fall, and before long the business will be sinking even though it has a great product or service.

2. Not Understanding Their Employees.

Not only should a business owner value their employees, but they should make an effort to understand them as well. Remember that being a good leader means inspiring employees to reach their goals. Not everyone is inspired the same. A business owner that doesnt take the time to learn about their employees will find that some are productive while others arent.

1. Not Learning From Their Mistakes.

Many business owners have made the mistakes listed above. The worst are those who dont stop and learn from that mistake. Thats when a small mistake can start to happen over and over, eventually becoming an enormous mistake. Learn from these mistakes that any business owner can make so that you can avoid making them as well.

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