Trump Calls On Congress To ‘Kill FISA’
In a post on his Truth Social platform, former President Donald Trump called on Congress to “kill” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as lawmakers consider reauthorizing the controversial act that allowed warrantless spying on Americans.
Legislation to reauthorize FISA is headed to the House floor for a final vote this week. The new bill is especially concerning because lawmakers included a specific carveout that exempts members of Congress, meaning that they are once again ensuring that they don’t have to be treated the same as their constituents.
“Kill FISA, it was illegally used against me and many others. They spied on my campaign,” Trump wrote in the Truth Social post.
The FBI has explained that the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act will extend Section 702 of FISA for 5 years, claiming that it “permits the government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign persons located outside the United States.”
However, the act also allows for collection of information on U.S. citizens who may have communicated with people overseas.
The legislation includes a new policy that exempts members of Congress, stating: “The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall promptly notify the appropriate congressional leadership of any query conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation using a query term that is reasonably believed to be the name or other personally identifying information of a member of Congress and shall also notify the member who is the subject of the inquiry.”
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation may not for the exclusive purpose of supplementing the contents of a briefing on the defense against a counterintelligence threat to a member of Congress conduct a query that is the name or restricted personal information… of that member unless the member provides consent to the use of the query term,” the document continued.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) condemned the exemption in a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Congress gives itself a carve out in the reauthorization of FISA 702 warrantless spying on Americans. The bill requires the FBI to notify and seek consent from Congress before violating the privacy of Congressmen,” Massie’s first post read. “This will persuade many members of Congress to vote yes.”
“Ask yourself: If there’s nothing wrong or unconstitutional in this program, why does Congress want a carve out for itself?” he asked in a follow-up post.
Numerous lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been working to include a warrant requirement in the FISA renewal, but it is unclear whether they will ultimately succeed in their efforts. Many of these lawmakers have stated that they intend to oppose any FISA reauthorization that doesn’t end warrantless surveillance.
The House is reportedly considering several different amendments to require a warrant for FISA surveillance of Americans. On Tuesday, the House Rules Committee approved a bipartisan amendment that bans “warrantless searches of U.S. person communications in the FISA 702 database, with exceptions for imminent threats to life or bodily harm, consent searches, or known cybersecurity threat signatures.”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) also proposed an amendment that requires the FBI to “report to Congress on a quarterly basis the number of U.S. person queries conducted. Additionally, grants the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Committees on Judiciary and Intelligence in the House and Senate, in addition to the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, and the Minority Leader of the House, access to attend FISC proceedings.” This amendment also passed.
