President Trump on Tuesday urged Republicans to oppose laws that extend the provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Oversight Act, citing violations of the law against his 2016 campaign.
“I hope all Republican Members choose NOT in FISA until our country is able to determine how and why the biggest political, criminal, and subversive scandal in US history took place!” Trump write on Twitter.
Trump’s call to action is a boon for privacy advocates on both sides, who for years have faced narrow defeats on measures to hold government oversight. But with Republicans in the minority in the House of Representatives, they will need support from left-wing Democrats who also want to change the bill passed by the Senate. If the bill is changed, it will return to the Senate.
The bill was negotiated in part by Attorney General Bill Barr and endorsed the Senate 80-16 this month after the senators refused by one vote to protect US internet search records from collecting without securities. With 59 votes support and a supporter, Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, was absent, the provision failed.
Last week, Trump told The Post during a press conference on Capitol Hill that during the Senate negotiations, “I deliberately said so [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch [McConnell], you go and do what you want. “
But Trump added: “There is nothing more abused than Trump … so I will study it very much.”
On Tuesday, before Trump urged Republican opposition, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in response to a question from The Post at a press conference, “Whatever FISA thinks about presidents, they are real, they are private, and they must be considered when we move forward to reauthorize this valuable tool. “
Trump faces pressure that is divided in the Republican Party. Some allies, including Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky, hoped Trump would block the bill, although Paul said he did not have much hope after discussing the issue with Trump.
“I think he is sympathetic to the idea that we need more reform but basically we don’t have a voice,” Paul said last week. “I think he should [veto the bill], but I don’t think he will. “
It is unclear whether Trump’s request for further review of violations of his campaign will take a more specific form. The Senate Judiciary Committee led by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has reviewed the Russian FBI investigation, although Graham has opposed Trump’s call to call former President Barack Obama as a witness.
On Tuesday, Trump swore in the new national intelligence director, former Rep. Texas John Ratcliffe. In one of his last acts, outgoing intelligence director Ric Grenell declared a transcript from former Trump advisor Michael Flynn in a December 2016 call with then Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents including Peter Strzok about the summons, although he argues that he did not intentionally lie and the Department of Justice has moved to dismiss the case without finding a valid reason to interview Flynn.
Trump’s defenders specifically refused to “unmask” Flynn’s identity under FISA by Obama administration officials, as well as the FBI withholding information from the FISA court in an application to oversee Trump’s former campaign adviser, Carter Page.
An investigation by special advisor Robert Mueller finally found no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.
FISA became law after Watergate controlled government oversight. This sets out surveillance for surveillance of suspected spies and terrorists, but privacy advocates say it is not enough. In 2013, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the FISA court routinely approved the collection of records of domestic telephone calls from telephone companies, which Congress ended in 2015.
Delayed law reform requires the attorney general to sign the oversight of government officials, and open the door for additional outside expert testimony before the FISA court, where only government lawyers are generally represented.
Paul said last week the pending bill would allow authorities to use FISA to “investigate the presidential election, which is a terrible, terrible injustice, and we must try to prevent it.”