It went down like this. While Rubio and Cruz were debating each other’s records on national security and surveillance, Cruz got into some details about what the bulk data program covers.
“What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists,” Cruz said, referring to Rubio. “The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that’s the case.”
It’s not clear if Cruz, who is unpopular with many of his Senate colleagues, revealed classified information. But in his response to Cruz, Rubio noted that he did not want to say too much about the program.
“Let me be very careful when answering this, because I don’t think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information,” Rubio said. “So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before.”
And that was how it went down. Moments afterward, this was tweeted:
Cruz shouldn’t have said that.
— Becca Glover Watkins (@beccaglover) December 16, 2015
Becca Watkins is the communications director for Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Burr told reporters that his staff was looking into the matter as to whether or not Cruz disclosed classified information. Cruz is not well-liked in the Senate, even by his Republican colleagues.
Late yesterday, the Senate Intelligence Committee announced that it will not be investigating anything said during Tuesday’s debate.
Meaning…. well, anything. If Cruz leaked classified information, they’re certainly not going to admit it. Better than the terrorists think that 100% of bulk phone data is being culled.