Senate Republicans furious over Trump derailing FISA bill

Former President Trump helped derail a House compromise that would have expanded the powers of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), sparking frustration among Senate Republicans and lawmakers who say the nation’s intelligence agencies could spy on adversaries and terrorists. He is scrambling to find a plan B that will keep him from losing his ability to do things. .

Republican senators say the nation’s spy program is soon about to go “dark,” meaning much of the information contained in President Biden’s daily briefings could be lost and the country at risk of a surprise attack. He warns.

“We are very disappointed in President Trump’s assessment of FISA. It is an essential tool. It may need fixing, but as everyone in the intelligence community has said, it is absolutely essential,” Senate Intelligence said. said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the committee’s ranking member.

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Florida) warned that if the bill is not passed, domestic intelligence gathering will be crippled.

“If we cannot monitor foreign terrorists and foreign spies overseas, we will withdraw from intelligence operations,” he said.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), another member of the Intelligence Committee, said much of the national security information provided to Biden daily comes from information collected under Section 702 of FISA. He pointed out that there was.

“So I think we need to reform it, not end it,” Cornyn said.

Asked what it would mean for national security if Congress were to eliminate FISA’s warrantless surveillance powers under Section 702, Cornyn warned: I hope we can have a broader discussion about what reform should look like. ”

Cornyn, who is an adviser to the Senate leadership team, acknowledged that the path forward for reauthorizing the oversight authority is uncertain.

“I don’t know if it’s a short-term extension or what the plan is,” he said.

President Trump on Friday urged Congress to “kill FISA,” effectively killing a House bill that would expand surveillance powers.

“Kill FISA. It was used illegally against me and many others. They spied on my campaign!!!” President Trump raged on his social media platform “Truth Social” .

Nineteen House Republicans heeded that call and blocked the bill from consideration in the House on Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and his allies scrambled Thursday to finalize a Plan B to reauthorize the program before a looming April 19 deadline, with the House Rules Committee The House of Representatives met to develop a similar bill. I’ll vote on Friday.

Many of the Republican holdouts had indicated they would help push the bill through the House after negotiations, but not all were ready to support it, leaving Johnson with just two votes to lose.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is facing personal conflict with the FBI and other intelligence agencies over the wiretapping of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page during the 2016 election. , accused Trump of jeopardizing the future of national security programs.

“I know that for President Trump, much of what’s happening in the world revolves around him in his head, but FISA is actually a threat to another 9/11 or worse. “If FISA were abolished, American lives would be lost,” he said. Ta.

Romney said President Trump’s call to kill FISA is a “very dangerous position.”

“If there are reforms that are needed to avoid abuse, then by all means implement them, but let’s not abandon something that is so important to the lives and well-being of our people,” he said.

Former Trump Attorney General William Barr told The Hill on Wednesday that President Trump’s opposition to FISA was motivated more by personal animus than by substantive policy disagreements or concerns about protecting the Fourth Amendment. He said that it seems like he is being treated as such.

“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 on the floor,” he said. He was referring to a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of FISA, which stalled in the House on Wednesday after 19 Republicans voted to reject a rule that would have advanced the provision.

Barr warned that allowing the plan to lapse would put the nation at risk of attack.

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

Several senators, including Barr and Rubio, said the FBI began wiretapping Trump’s former campaign aide Page in 2016 under Section 1 of FISA, which is at issue in the House reauthorization bill. He pointed out that it had not. And they noted that the FBI obtained a warrant from the FISA court to monitor Page.

Sen. Thom Tillis, RN.C., said the former president’s calls to end FISA and Section 702 go too far.

“I disagree with his opinion,” he said. “I’ve worked with the FBI and watched briefings on the reforms, and I believe the FBI has addressed the concerns. And I think the world is too dangerous right now for us to be in the dark.” .”

Tillis said Republican lawmakers need to work with the Biden administration to keep the country safe, and if Trump wants to make additional changes to the program, he could work toward new reforms if elected president in November. He said they should work with Congress.

“It’s our job to take care of business today. We can have this discussion with a future President Trump, but I think if we go into darkness, this country and this world will be even more dangerous.” “I believe that, and that’s why, with all due respect to President Trump, I support it,” he said. .

But some Republicans praised Trump’s intervention on the issue.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a libertarian-leaning conservative, said he “completely agrees” with President Trump’s call to “kill FISA.”

“I’ve never felt like I could circumvent the Constitution to get information about Americans,” he said. “Domestically, the Constitution applies, and I think this huge 702 database contains tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of bits of information about Americans.

“I think 702 is a terrible program applied to Americans,” he said.

This is just the latest example of President Trump’s last-minute efforts to undermine Republican leaders on Capitol Hill and derail high-priority legislation.

President Trump tore up the Senate’s bipartisan border security agreement in February, telling then-Republican senators to oppose it, saying they didn’t want to give Biden a legislative victory on border security.

And the former president worked hard to derail a $95 billion emergency foreign aid plan, including $60 billion for Ukraine, that the Senate passed by 70 votes in February.

President Trump urged Republican senators on the phone to vote against the bill, destroying majority support in the Senate Republican conference.

But Republican senators are perplexed that U.S. intelligence agencies could lose key intelligence-gathering powers within days after President Trump helped kill a House bill that would have expanded their powers.

“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 this is really about keeping America safe. It’s a necessary tool,” said Senate Republican Sen. John Thune (S.D.).

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of the Intelligence Committee, noted that a person who threatened to shoot up a church in Idaho was recently arrested before carrying out the attack.

“If that person came in and killed a bunch of people, and then the news broke saying, ‘We saw it, we knew about it, and we couldn’t do anything about it,’ the whole country would will be up in arms about this.” That’s it,” he said.

Lankford acknowledged that he didn’t know whether expanded FISA surveillance powers would have thwarted that particular threat, but argued: There are always threats to our country. ”