Spying situation

Rubio: Spying situation 'might be worse' than what public thinks

By Nick Gass

Marco Rubio treaded carefully on Wednesday in addressing a report from The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. government continued to spy on some leaders of allied nations, including Israel, and collected communications of members of Congress in the process.

But he also warned that the full picture "might be worse," remarking that he did not think the report "gets the entire story."

Appearing on "Fox and Friends" ahead of a campaign event in Pella, Iowa, Rubio, who is a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, reiterated on more than one occasion that he wanted to be "very careful" about discussing the politically fraught topic.

"Well I want to be very careful. I’m on, a member of the Intelligence Committee, so obviously I want to be very careful of what I say about information of this kind. Obviously people read this report, they have a right to be concerned this morning about it," he said of the Journal's story with the headline "U.S. Spy Net on Israel Snares Congress."

"They have a right to be concerned about the fact that while some leaders around the world are no longer being targeted, one of our strongest allies in the Middle East—Israel—is," he remarked. "These are all concerns, and they’re legitimate."

However, Rubio continued, the latest episode illustrates "one of those complicated issues when it comes to intelligence matters."

"We have to be very careful about how we discuss it, especially since there’s a press report that I don’t think gets the entire story," he said, adding that he was not defending the White House.

"I actually think it might be worse than what some people might think, but this is an issue that we’ll keep a close eye on, and the role that I have in the Intelligence Committee," he said. "But. I’m not trying to be evasive, but I want to be very careful in a national broadcast like this how we discuss these sorts of issues."