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FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., revealed to Fox News Digital that he is one of three Republicans in Congress who was surveilled by the Biden administration’s “Quiet Skies” program, a program that has been shut down due to overreach concerns.
Earlier this week, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Rand Paul, R-Ky., convened a hearing examining alleged Biden administration abuse of the program, which was terminated by DHS in June, and revealed that three current Republican members of Congress were surveilled or monitored either as a sitting member or while seeking elected office.
GOP Rep. Abe Hamadeh tells Fox News Digital he was informed that he was one of those members of Congress and was surveilled in December 2022.
“It sadly doesn’t surprise me,” Hamadeh explained. “At the time, if you remember, I mean banks were shutting down accounts if they promoted conservative viewpoints, if they were selling ammo or guns and the banks were being pressured by the Biden administration. You had social media companies censoring political voices that they didn’t agree with. So it shows you the depths that the federal government, how much sway they have, not just within the bureaucracy of the government, but also with private organizations and private actors as well.“
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Hamadeh called the timing of his surveillance “interesting” because “during the time period that I was challenging the results of my election in 2022 when I was running for attorney general, where that race was decided by 280 votes out of 2.5 million.”
Hamadeh continued, “You know, this is a very legitimate challenge. This is something that both sides of the aisle have done routinely. So you don’t know if that was a factor. And I would assume so, because at the time it was such a hostile environment with President Biden when he was in power. I mean, my God, they were calling MAGA fascists. They were calling us threats to democracy constantly.”
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Hamadeh also called it “peculiar” that he is a former U.S. Army Reserve intelligence officer with top secret clearance who traveled overseas both on deployment and in his personal capacity.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in June it would be ending the Quiet Skies program, which left some Americans subject to additional screenings at airport security.
The department says the agency was overly politicized to either benefit or hurt specific people and ran a bill of roughly $200 million annually. According to DHS, the program kept a watchlist as well as a list of people exempted. The department says Quiet Skies has not prevented any terrorist attacks but will continue to use other methods to assure safe air travel.
“It is clear that the Quiet Skies program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration — weaponized against its political foes and exploited to benefit their well-heeled friends. I am calling for a Congressional investigation to unearth further corruption at the expense of the American people and the undermining of US national security,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
The TSA’s “Quiet Skies” program was established in 2010 to identify passengers for enhanced screening on some domestic and outbound international flights.
Paul said earlier this year that he received records confirming that federal air marshals surveilled now-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard during domestic flights last year, “reporting back information related to her appearance and even how many electronics she was observed using.”
“I’m glad to see that the Senate, Senator Rand Paul got to the bottom of it and also that Department of Homeland Security has now effectively terminated the Quiet Skies program as well,” Hamadeh told Fox News Digital.
“Also, it’s odd that there’s only three Republican members of Congress that were targeted. I mean, I’m assuming, there’s Democrats who have a lot of interesting travel here that I serve with as well. I’m sure that there are things that would flag them. So it makes you question what the Biden administration, who they were focusing on, who they were targeting specifically. I mean look at Tulsi Gabbard. I mean what? What a complete 180 for now to have her be running the intelligence agencies as the director of national intelligence. And it goes to show you what we were fighting.”
In a press release earlier this week, Paul commended Noem for ending the program but said the work is “not done.”
“We must make sure that this program does not come back under another name. Every official who directed or approved surveillance of Americans for protected speech must be removed from office. Full transparency must become the rule rather than requiring a year of investigation,” Paul said. “The result will be a process that respects the Constitution, ends real life shadow bans against Americans and gives all of us the assurance that our government is focused on protecting us, not on chasing political ghosts.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Cameron Arcand contributed to this report
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