Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner said Tuesday that he is being blocked from a scheduled oversight meeting after interference from far-right activist Laura Loomer.
Warner, D-Va., said the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency meeting scheduled for Friday was called off after Loomer launched public attacks on him and the NGA’s director, Vice Adm. Trey Whitworth.
“This nakedly political decision undermines the dedicated, nonpartisan staff at NGA and threatens the principle of civilian oversight that protects our national security,” Warner said in a statement.
“Members of Congress routinely conduct meetings and on-site engagements with federal employees in their states and districts; blocking and setting arbitrary conditions on these sessions sets a dangerous precedent, calling into question whether oversight is now allowed only when it pleases the far-right fringe,” he said.
Warner said that the meeting was scheduled weeks ago and that it was an unpublicized and classified visit.
Loomer took credit for the cancellation on X. She demanded that Whitworth be fired for having planned to meet with Warner.
“Whitworth’s scheduled September 5th fireside love fest with anti-Trump Democrat Senator @MarkWarner Mark Warner has been CANCELED!” she wrote.
She wrote that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “should fire Trey Whitworth for insubordination.”
Whitworth took over as head of the spy agency in 2022, during President Joe Biden’s administration. Before that, he was director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The NGA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Warner said that he has routinely visited the offices of U.S. intelligence agencies for years under both Republican and Democratic presidents and that the visits were never questioned until now.
He said the cancellation should concern members of Congress from both parties, nothing that members routinely meet with officials in federal government.
“Blocking and setting arbitrary conditions on these sessions sets a dangerous precedent, calling into question whether oversight is now allowed only when it pleases the far-right fringe,” Warner said. “This should concern Republicans as well as Democrats: if routine oversight can be obstructed for political reasons, no member of Congress is immune.”
In April, the director and the No. 2 official at the National Security Agency were ousted from their positions, and Loomer took credit for the dismissals. She had met with President Donald Trump that week and thanked him for “being receptive to the vetting materials provided to you.”
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