President Donald Trump signaled a willingness Wednesday to extend a hotly debated surveillance tool while also commenting that he would willingly surrender his rights and privileges to do so.
The president posted on Truth Social that he was working with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, along with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, on extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The post comes as Republicans’ infighting grows over the provision between Johnson and several members of the Rules committee.
“I am asking Republicans to UNIFY, and vote together on the test vote to bring a clean Bill to the floor. We need to stick together when this Bill comes before the House Rules Committee today to keep it CLEAN,” Trump wrote.
Trump also pointed to former FBI Director James Comey, saying that he used FISA Title I as part of his investigation into Russian Collusion in the president’s 2016 campaign. He then added that he would be willing to surrender part of his own rights for the section.
“I am willing to risk the giving up of my Rights and Privileges as a Citizen for our Great Military and Country! Our Military Patriots desperately need FISA 702, and it is one of the reasons we have had such tremendous SUCCESS on the battlefield,” Trump wrote.
The President had previously called for Congress to “KILL FISA” in 2024 stating that it was “ILLEGALLY USED” against his campaign to spy on them.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Section 702 of FISA allows intelligence agencies to “collect, share, and appropriately share” any foreign intelligence collection regarding potential national security threats, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. While the section does not allow agencies to survey citizens in the United States and only applies to those outside of the country, they can monitor any emails or calls between a party and anyone within the country.
“For this reason, Section 702 requires specific procedures to minimize the acquisition, retention, and sharing of any information concerning United States persons,” the office states.
Because of ambiguity, this could lead to bulk data collection of communications between Americans and foreigners overseas, even if someone is not suspected of any wrongdoing, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Essentially, any communication under this section could be done without a warrant.
Several Republican representatives vocally opposed a clean passage of a bill, demanding that Johnson consider and add several amendments to any final passage, according to Politico. Republican Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson sought an amendment blocking data brokers from selling info to the government, while other members sought provisions barring data collection without a warrant.
The Trump administration faced a litany of FISA abuses and misconduct during the first administration, with the use of a now-discredited dossier by former British spy Christopher Steele to secure FISA warrants. The FBI received evidence at the time that the dossier might contain Russian disinformation and that Russian officials were aware Steele was investigating the Trump campaign at the time.
Other members of Trump’s campaign found themselves in the center of investigations, especially against former campaign aide Carter Page. Officials from the FBI reportedly provided false information to wiretap Page, while two other orders were “not valid.”
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe also acknowledged “mistakes” made in the investigation in April 2024 when FISA was also under negotiations to be extended.
FISA abuses have also been used against American citizens in the past, using it over 300,000 times between 2020 and early 2021, which also included donors to congressional campaigns and those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Republicans, who controlled the House in 2024, passed an extension of Section 702 without any major changes.
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