House passes NSA surveillance bill over Trump tweets
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump publicly contradicted a major policy position of his own administration for the second time in a week on Thursday, during a period when his stability and grasp of details have come under renewed fire.
In the latest incident, Trump sent a tweet that rattled the national security community and lawmakers from his own party, nearly derailing a vote in the House to renew the National Security Agency’s broad authority to collect surveillance of foreigners, without warrants, including those communicating with U.S. citizens. Though it passed the House, 256-164, the extension still faces uncertainty in the Senate, where Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, has threatened a filibuster.
The House vote was preceded by chaotic debate over an issue that has split lawmakers into unusual bipartisan alliances since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosure the scope of the eavesdropping program in 2013. A competing measure, which would have required additional privacy protections for Americans, was rejected.
Trump added to the chaos with his itchy Twitter finger early Thursday, insisting angrily and contrary to all known evidence that the program was used to spy on his campaign during the 2016 election. The tweet, sent hours before the already contentious vote, prompted concern from the program’s supporters, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who called the president to discuss the program, according to a person familiar with the call who requested anonymity. Trump issued a second tweet, more supportive of the surveillance authority, after his talk with Ryan.
It was a striking contradiction between Trump’s dueling identities as a man, often guided by impulses, grievances and what he sees on television, and Trump the president, responsible for taking a broader view of government and security issues.
Trump also contradicted his administration’s policy on Tuesday, during a public meeting with lawmakers to discuss immigration at the White House. During the meeting, Trump said he would agree to sign a standalone bill extending legal protections to so-called Dreamers, 700,000 immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children. Trump also had to walk that statement back after lawmakers reminded him that his own White House was insisting such protections would only be agreed to in exchange for a host of other changes to immigration law.
And on Wednesday, Trump contradicted his own statement in June that he would agree “100 percent,” to sit down with special counsel Robert Mueller to discuss the probe into potential collusion with Russia during the election and subsequent obstruction of justice. “We’ll see what happens,” Trump said in a news conference Wednesday, adding that he would speak with his attorneys while declining to reaffirm his prior promise.