Trump blasts, then lauds spy bill before it passes
THE HOUSE ON Thursday approved legislation reauthorizing a controversial part of a powerful surveillance program, shortly after President Trump offered conflicting commentary on the bill.
The legislation extends a piece of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows for warrant-less surveillance of foreign officials outside the U.S., for six years — but new limits on how authorities can use the information that is collected were rejected. The bill now heads to the Senate.
Muddying the legislative waters ahead of the House vote, Trump contradicted the White House’s official policy with a social media post criticizing the surveillance law.
“House votes on controversial FISA ACT today.” This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?” he tweeted following a report on “Fox & Friends.”
He reversed course about an hour later, he spoke to House Speaker Paul Ryan about the bill regarding Section 702 of FISA.
“With that being said, I have personally directed the fix to the unmasking process since taking office and today’s vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!” the later tweet said.
Asked if Trump did not understand what bill was being voted on, Ryan (photo) defended the commander-in-chief.
“He just has concerns about other parts of FISA,” he told reporters.
The White House denied the contradictory nature of the President’s competing statements.
“We do not think that there was a conflict at all,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Thursday. “The President supports the 702. Happy to see that it passed the House today. He does have some overall concern with the FISA program generally.”
When pressed about Trump’s tweets, Sanders became combative.
“It wasn’t confusing to me, I’m sorry if it was for you,” she told a reporter who asked about the reversal.
The 256-to-164 vote to extend Section 702 allows the government to collect the emails and other communications of foreign targets located overseas from U.S. companies.
But the program also sweeps up Americans’ communications.
Critics contend that the extension will be used by government agencies to spy on U.S. citizens without warrants.
“The House voted today to give President Trump and his administration more spying powers,” Neema Singh Guliani, policy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. “The government will use this bill to continue warrantless intrusions into Americans’ private emails, text messages, and other communications.”
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), the ranking Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, blasted the passage of the bill without any reforms.
“I agree with (Judiciary Committee) Chairman (Bob) Goodlatte that Section 702 should be reauthorized. I understand its importance to the intelligence agencies,” he said. “But neither of us should support this bill — which pretends at reform while codifying some of the worst practices of the intelligence community.”
Former FBI Director James Comey, fired last year by Trump, weighed in Thursday in support of the reauthorization.
“Thoughtful leaders on both sides of the aisle know FISA section 702 is a vital and carefully overseen tool to protect this country. This isn’t about politics. Congress must reauthorize it,” he tweeted.