Despite receiving acclaim from both sides of the political spectrum over his stance against unconstitutional drone strikes, CNN host Erin Burnett and one of her guests suggested Senator Rand Paul was “wasting time” by staging his marathon filibuster yesterday.
Introducing the segment by remarking, “Senator Paul drones on….and on….and on,” Burnett asked former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor if a drone strike could ever take place within the United States.
Vietor, who personally worked alongside presumptive CIA director John Brennan, one of the key architects of the secret drone program, attempted to claim the issue was “pretty simple” and that Attorney General Holder and President Obama had clearly stated that drones would not be used against U.S. citizens on U.S. soil, the opposite of what Holder and Obama have actually communicated by refusing to categorically deny that this would take place.
Indeed, in his letter to Rand Paul, Holder said that it was “possible” under extraordinary circumstances that drones could be used to kill Americans domestically. This refusal to rule out drone strikes on U.S. soil completely was the very thing that prompted Paul to launch his 12 hour filibuster.
Tags: Rand Paul, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Big Brother, Drones