Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officals treated Sen. Rand Paul “appropriately” today, when the senator was prevented from boarding a plane to Washington, D.C., after Paul refused to allow the TSA to subject him to a pat-down today.
“Passengers who refuse to complete the screening process can’t be granted access to the secure area,” the TSA wrote on its blog today. “This isn’t done to punish the passenger– it’s done to ensure that every person who gets on a plane is screened appropriately.” TSA explained that they wanted to do “a targeted patdown of the area” on Sen. Paul’s body that set off the alarm.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today that Paul “was not detained,” but the senator tells a different story. “I tried to leave the cubicle to speak to one of the TSA people and I was barked at: ‘Do not leave the cubicle!'” he said to The Daily Caller. “So, that, to me sounds like I’m being asked not to leave the cubicle. It sounds a little bit like I’m being detained.”
