Cruz Campaign Press Release - Cruz Campaign Calls on Rubio to Correct False Claims About America's Intelligence Gathering Capabilities

HOUSTON, Texas – Today, the Cruz campaign called on Senator Marco Rubio to correct the false and misleading statements he made regarding the data-collection capabilities of America's intelligence services.

In an interview with CBS "This Morning" Rubio criticized the USA Freedom Act, which maintains America's ability to target terrorists and keep the country safe without violating Americans' constitutional rights, that passed earlier this year with overwhelming bipartisan support and went into effect on December 1.

"First of all, we have to have robust intelligence gathering capabilities to disrupt plots. It's one of the reasons why I was opposed to this law that even some of my opponents running for president voted for, this USA [Freedom] Act that passed a few months ago," Rubio told CBS. "It took away the right to collect metadata, which means that we can now not access the phone records of individuals that we either suspect of being involved in terrorism or who carry out an attack to see who they were coordinating or talking to." [Emphasis added]

The assertion that "we can now not access the phone records of individuals that we either suspect of being involved in terrorism or who carry out an attack" is patently false. Under the USA Freedom Act, America's intelligence services, the FBI, and local law enforcement have all the authority they need to target suspected terrorists, access phone records, and track all those with whom they've been communicating.

In a letter to Congress last May, James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence wrote, "The intelligence community believes that the [USA Freedom Act] preserves the essential operational capabilities of the telephone metadata program and enhances other intelligence capabilities needed to protect our nation and its partners."

"Particularly inaccurate is the assertion that we couldn't target someone who carries out an attack," said Chad Sweet, the Cruz for President National Campaign Chairman who has also served in the CIA's National Clandestine Service and as Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security. "The USA Freedom Act preserves America's ability to track down, kill or prosecute America's enemies, particularly those who have carried out attacks. In fact, it strengthens our hand in fighting terrorism by giving our intelligence services access to more information, ending the blind spot when persons who are being monitored enter the country, and increasing penalties for providing material support to terrorists. And it does all this without warrantless collection of the phone records of millions of law abiding Americans."

The USA Freedom Act was supported by Senator Mike Lee, the NRA, scores of House conservatives, and millions of Americans who believe the federal government can achieve its chief responsibility of keeping Americans safe while also protecting their liberty.

The falsehood told by Senator Rubio is perhaps the result of a lack of success in attacking Ted Cruz. Rubio and his Super PAC allies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to distort Ted Cruz's strong record on national security and yet have only seen Cruz's support catapult while the Rubio campaign is essentially treading water.

"Honest and accurate policy debates are important for our democracy. This particular assertion – that America couldn't target those who have carried out attacks – is beyond the pale and Rubio should correct the record immediately, instead of attempting to instill a false fear among Americans. Our campaign is calling on him to formally correct these inaccurate statements and to start telling the truth about America's intelligence capabilities," said Sweet.