TSA detains official from Ron Paul group

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Mr. Bierfeldt continued to refuse to answer, asking whether he was compelled by law to do so. The officers accused him of "doublespeak" and "acting like a child."

"Are you from this planet?" one officer asked.

The officers threatened to handcuff him and turn him over to the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration for questioning.

"You're going to have to prove why you have so much money to the DEA," a second unidentified officer said.

"We're going to help you understand [the law]," the TSA official said.

As he was being led away by the officers questioning him in the recording, another unidentified officer approached the group and asked Mr. Bierfeldt whether he worked for Mr. Paul and whether the money was campaign contributions.

Mr. Bierfeldt responded, "Yes," and was told by that officer that he was "free to go."

But one of the detaining officers said he was "not all that ready to let him walk" back onto the concourse, and held him for another five minutes.

"I was not refusing to answer the questions. I was only saying, as per the law, 'Am I legally required to answer the questions?'" Mr. Bierfeldt later said in an interview with The Times.

"We are becoming far too eager to give away our liberties in the face of false security. We want to make our plane and we don't want a five-minute hassle so we are eager to give up our freedom, and that is unfortunate," Mr. Bierfeldt said.