Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., said the Biden administration abused federal security agencies to politically target him during his campaign, revealing in a new interview that he was flagged by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) during his 2022 campaign for Arizona Attorney General while involved in an ongoing election-related lawsuit.

Hamadeh told the Just the News Not Noise television program that he was notified by Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul’s office earlier this week that he had been placed on a federal air travel watchlist in late 2022, which he believes was politically motivated.

Hamadeh said he and two other Republicans were singled out by the “Biden TSA” as part of a broader pattern of surveillance and targeting of conservative figures.“This wasn’t just a bureaucratic fluke,” Hamadeh said. “This was a deliberate abuse of federal power — placing candidates on watchlists, monitoring their travel, treating them like national security threats — all for daring to challenge the administration’s narrative.”

Hamadeh, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, said the timing of the “terrifying” TSA monitoring came weeks after a contested election in which he was actively involved in legal challenges. He added that media and Democratic leaders were describing him at the time as a “threat to democracy.”

The Arizona lawmaker said the situation is evidence of the “weaponization” of federal agencies during the Biden administration, naming other examples such as the alleged FBI surveillance of parents at school board meetings, Catholics attending mass, and individuals opposing pandemic-era mask mandates.

Hamadeh, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, lauded Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for terminating the TSA’s “Quiet Skies” monitoring program, calling it a necessary step in restoring public trust. He credited Sen. Paul for making light of the program and said that Congress would take further action to make sure the same situation never occurs again.

On August 4, 2024, it was reported that whistleblowers with the Federal Air Marshal Service came forward with information showing former representative and now Director of National Intelligence candidate Tulsi Gabbard was listed in the TSA’s Quiet Skies program, which is a suspected terrorist watchlist.

Rand Paul, R-Ky., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, opened an investigation into TSA’s Quiet Skies program in 2024 after reports it was weaponized against Americans. Dr. Paul released a report of his findings, exposing how TSA’s Quiet Skies program, and related watch lists, were twisted into political surveillance tools under the Biden administration.

Rand’s report shows that Tulsi Gabbard, a combat veteran and former congresswoman, was surveilled on at least five flights in 2024. This surveillance began only one day after she publicly criticized Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

“There has to be legislation to prevent this from happening again,” Hamadeh said. “You can’t have a system where faceless, unelected bureaucrats think they can punish political opponents using national security tools.”

In the same interview, Hamadeh said he is optimistic about the direction of the FBI under its new leadership, citing recent high-profile arrests such as the killer of activist Charlie Kirk and the agency’s focus on crime-fighting, such as child exploitation cases.

“So to see that the FBI is going back to its core mission and defending Americans, and going after the bad guys. I mean, so much of what Director Patel has been doing hasn’t been making the news, but going after child sex traffickers.”

“All of this is, you know, making sure that the focus of the FBI is back to its core mission. That’s exactly what President Trump and what Kash Patel have been doing over the past few months,” he added.

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