Bill Barr blasts Trump for call to kill FISA: ‘Crazy and reckless’

Former Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday denounced former President Trump’s recommendation that Congress repeal the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as “insane and reckless,” calling for the agency’s surveillance powers to expire and FISA to be abolished. He warned that if he did so, there would be “blood on people’s hands.” Terrorist attack against the United States.

Barr, who served in the Trump administration’s Cabinet in 2019 and 2020, noted that President Trump at one time supported expanding surveillance powers granted under Section 702 of FISA, and said he is not interested in expanding the surveillance powers granted under Section 702 of FISA. He warned that political “posture” to the contrary was dangerous to national security.

“I think it would be crazy and reckless not to move forward with FISA. It is a primary tool to protect us from terrorist attacks. is blinding us and our allies,” Barr said in an interview with The Hill.

“President Trump’s opposition appears to stem from personal anger rather than logic or reason. The provisions he opposes have nothing to do with the provisions under consideration,” he said. He was referring to a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of FISA that stalled in the House on Wednesday after 19 Republicans voted to defeat it. Shortly after President Trump said he should be killed, he brought it forward.

“Kill FISA. It was used illegally against me and many others. They spied on my campaign!!!” President Trump told the House Republican Conference to discuss the bill. he posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, shortly before the opening of the event.

Hours later, the House voted 193-228 to reject a rule that would have moved forward with reauthorizing surveillance powers.

The House vote leaves the future of a bill extending Section 702 of FISA, which expires on April 19, uncertain.

Barr pointed out that the wiretapping incident involving former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page during the 2016 election had nothing to do with Section 702, and argued that Trump’s statements themselves were wrong.

“Some of the FISA that was misused during Russiagate involved wiretapping American citizens, and that was not considered. “There’s no Section 4 issue,” Barr said of the Section 702 oversight authority.

“We believe this will result in an attack on the United States that we will not be able to intercept,” he warned.

Barr noted that Trump supported expanding Section 702 powers during his presidency, but has since become confused on the issue.

“Initially, he was open to re-certification and told me to get him re-certified. Then he went back and forth about it depending on who he ended up talking to,” he said. I remembered. “As he became increasingly angry about left-wing attacks on Russiagate, his support for reauthorization waned.

“I think this is inappropriate because this protects national security and his objections to Article 1 do not apply here. I feel there is a lot of political posturing here. “I don’t think that should be the case when it comes to something as important as this in protecting our country,” he said.

Barr said allowing the intelligence community’s surveillance powers to lapse could be highly counterproductive to Republicans blocking FISA reauthorization in the event of a preventable attack on U.S. soil. I warned you.

“For the sake of the Republican Party, I hope there’s no attack, because if there was one, I think there would be blood on the hands of the people who carried this out. It’s reckless,” he said.

He also said that if Mr. Trump were elected and continued to oppose Section 702 of FISA, the intelligence community’s future ability to monitor foreign threats could be severely compromised.

Asked whether future oversight agencies would be at risk if President Trump returns to the White House, Barr said: You would think so. ”

Senate Republican leaders echoed Barr’s concerns Wednesday.

Senate Republican Sen. John Thune (S.D.) said of President Trump’s efforts to kill FISA reauthorization: “I know he’s had a bad experience with this, but I don’t want to keep this issue in the dark.” I think there are many reasons why it can’t be done.”

“There are a lot of reasons why we can’t leave this situation in the dark. There are things that need to be fixed and reformed, and I think that’s where we need to focus. But it’s really necessary to keep America safe.” “It’s a great tool,” he said.

Asked whether President Trump’s opposition would prevent Congress from meeting the April 19 reauthorization deadline, Thune said: The ball now appears to be in the court of the House of Commons. ”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned that U.S. intelligence agencies could lose their ability to track foreign threats.

“I understand the concern about that. People keep bringing up this Carter Page case. It has nothing to do with this provision,” Rubio said Wednesday, with the bill stalled in the House. He talked about the surveillance powers under Article 702, which will be extended.

Mr. Rubio echoed Mr. Barr’s statement that the FBI began surveillance of Mr. Page under another section of the law.

“That falls under Article 1,” he pointed out. “A warrant was issued in that case. The FBI agent lied in court.”

The Justice Department later acknowledged that the evidence the FBI submitted to a special FISA court to begin surveillance of Mr. Page was legally insufficient.

Rubio also noted that reforms are currently in place that would increase civil and criminal penalties for lying in court to obtain warrants to monitor American citizens.

“The broader point is that if we can’t spy on foreign terrorists and foreign spies overseas, we will retreat from intelligence operations,” Rubio warned.