Former President Donald Trump is urging House Republicans to kill a surveillance reauthorization bill ahead of a key procedural vote on Wednesday, adding to headaches for GOP leaders who have struggled to build support for the legislation as it faces pushback from conservative hardliners.
“KILL FISA,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump wading into the debate now is a major problem for House Speaker Mike Johnson and could imperil the entire bill, as some hardliners were already either critical of the measure or on the fence about it.
House Republicans have been fiercely divided over how to handle the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reauthorization, putting pressure on Johnson to find a path forward amid competing factions within his conference. With the threat of a vote on his ouster looming, the Louisiana Republican’s every move is under even more intense scrutiny, and the speaker has once again found himself odds with his right flank over the surveillance law.
Johnson had previously announced that the House will take up a FISA reauthorization bill this week. The bill, titled the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, would reauthorize Section 702 of FISA for five years and aims to impose a series of reforms.
In a sign of the trouble ahead for GOP leaders, however, at least one Republican, Rep. Matt Gaetz, has already said he would vote against a procedural vote expected Wednesday afternoon, which means Speaker Johnson can only afford to lose one more.
Johnson told members at…
Read more@ISIDEWITH6mos6MO
How would you feel if your personal messages and data were accessible to the government without your direct consent?
@9LGD68N6mos6MO
the government should not be able to do this.
@9LGCW256mos6MO
My messages are private and not meant to be shared
@9LGFGTC6mos6MO
I would feel violated and unsafe.
@9LGF9YN6mos6MO
I wouldn't be able to trust my government and I would start looking into ways to start hiding as much data and information as I could.
@ISIDEWITH6mos6MO
Consider the potential consequences: Is the possibility of preventing terrorist attacks worth the risk of government overreach into personal privacy?
@9LGDDKD6mos6MO
It is only worth it to a certain extent
@9LGCYHGRepublican6mos6MO
I think that they should to prevent as much terrorist attacks
@9LGDKJR6mos6MO
We should take advantage of the fact that the United States is in a time when many immigrants are coming into the country. We are also fighting for democracy. We must and need to keep a look out for sneak attacks of terrorists.
@ISIDEWITH6mos6MO
Do you believe national security justifies the surveillance of citizens' communications, or does it infringe on personal freedoms and privacy?
@9LGCZBV6mos6MO
It definitely infringes personal freedoms
@ExecutiveHalPatriot6mos6MO
FISA has been significantly abused to illegally spy and trample on the privacy rights of millions of Americans.
Time to kill it and get back to the way our Constitution intended things to be!
Get a warrant.
@MusselRickDemocrat6mos6MO
Speaking of privacy rights... How about the right to decide to have an abortion and keep that decision in the hands of the family and the doctor? I'm pretty sure that privacy and freedom are just words that you like to use without understanding their meanings.
@DelightfulCraneDemocrat6mos6MO
Neither you nor Trump understand how FISA works. FISA, which stand for FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE Surveillance Act, has a court where you already have to get a warrant in order to act.
@ISIDEWITH6mos6MO
Imagine discovering your private conversations were monitored because someone you know was under surveillance; how would that affect your trust in government and your sense of privacy?
@9LGFGJJRepublican6mos6MO
I would feel very disrespected and violated.
@ISIDEWITH6mos6MO
Should former leaders such as presidents have a say in current governmental decisions, especially when it pertains to privacy and surveillance?
@9LGD5PF6mos6MO
I think that this matters because if they were good at there job then they should be able to help make desicons.
Make no mistake - they want this so they can spy on their political opponents and try to find crimes of citizens they disagree with politically. Anyone who votes to renew FISA is commie scum.
@RadiantVultureLibertarian6mos6MO
if americans do not stand up
they will face a credit system type arrangement
like in communist china
one wrong word, passports and resources are taken
without a trial
@LovesickS3curityLibertarian6mos6MO
Instead of giving a carve out to Congress from unconstitutional spying, just require a warrant for all Americans!
@L0bbyistBertCA Common Sense6mos6MO
Turner doesn’t even know what’s in the bill yet continues to insist it’s not an exception for members of Congress but it is.
Also—is he not aware that longtime Obama confidant Avril Haines runs Biden intel community and Obama confidant Lisa Monaco runs Biden’s DOJ? What does he think changed from 2016-2017?
@LovesickS3curityLibertarian6mos6MO
FISA targeted the campaign and anyone that surrounded Trump to spy. This “reform” does nothing to stop it from happening again. Repeal 702 FISA. It’s unconstitutional. Period.
@EqualityJulia6mos6MO
So it would not prevent what happened to Donald Trump in 2016, because Turner admitted it did not apply to unelected political candidates. They illegally spied on Trump long before he became President.
@ThriftyDeerRepublican6mos6MO
If there is a carve-out for Members of Congress, shouldn’t there a carve-out for candidates too? And if there is a carve-out for candidates, why not all who are eligible to be candidates?
Bad ides — like calling compliance with the 4th Amendment a carve-out — have multiple, cascading flaws.
@OriginalQuorumLibertarian6mos6MO
They are making the decision easy for members of congress by protecting them and not the American public.
This issue is SERIOUS, and why does he have to keep turning to the cute blonde behind him to find out the provisions in the bill
Wouldn't you think after all the abuses this guy would have everything memorized so he can easily answer basic questions?
The truth is he's just a mouthpiece for the "insiders" and doesn't have the 4th amendment or the American people best interests in mind.
“We can put anyone in jail if you know what to do.”
This isn’t national security.
This isn’t law enforcement.
This is fascism.
Yet another reason why we’d be crazy to reauthorize FISA 702 without a warrant requirement.
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