Peter King: Paul ‘doesn’t deserve’ to be a senator

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) on Sunday said fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) “doesn’t deserve to be in the United States Senate” based on his accusations against the National Security Agency over its domestic spying program.

{mosads}Appearing on Fox News, the hawkish former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee launched a broadside against Paul, saying he was “totally uninformed or he’s part of that hate America crowd that I thought left us in the 1960s.”

Earlier Sunday, the more libertarian Paul defended his planned class-action lawsuit against the NSA and suggested that both James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, and the leaker Edward Snowden deserved to be in jail.

“Rand Paul does not know what he’s talking about,” King said. “And, Rand Paul is really spreading fear among the American people.”

“To me,” King continued, “he’s either totally uninformed or he’s part of that hate America crowd that I thought left us in the 1960s. In any event, he doesn’t deserve to be in the United States Senate for spreading that type of misperception and absolute lies, to be honest with you.”

Both King and Paul have said they are considering a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

While Paul is a leading critic of the NSA, King is a staunch defender and said on Fox the spy agency “is doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing.”