We Asked Lawmakers If They Changed Their Tune About Warrantless Spying After Jack Smith Read Their Texts
A handful of lawmakers who supported the government's warrantless spying tool on Americans did not answer whether their minds had changed on the topic after former special counsel Jack Smith obtained their text messages.
A handful of lawmakers who supported the government’s warrantless spying tool on Americans did not answer whether their minds had changed on the topic after former special counsel Jack Smith obtained their text messages.
Smith and his investigative team reviewed the text messages of 44 members of Congress, including Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, as part of a criminal investigation into President Donald Trump and other individuals in his orbit after the 2020 election. Several lawmakers who supported warrantless spying as part of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance ACT (FISA) and voted to reauthorize it, including Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation when asked whether this made them think differently about the government accessing Americans’ data without a warrant.
Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Susan Collins of Maine, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s offices did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson’s office declined to comment.
Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn said he did not believe any changes needed to be made to Section 702, though he believed Smith should be held accountable for accessing lawmakers’ messages.
“Those are two separate issues. FISA Section 702 has nothing to do with what Jack Smith did … I think what we passed before is working very well,” Cornyn told the DCNF. “Smith needs to be held accountable for accessing congressional text messages and without going through the proper procedures.”
Lee told the DCNF that Congress needs to prevent anyone in government from violating the Fourth Amendment by conducting “politically-motivated domestic surveillance.”
“The same deep state that spied on Members of Congress in Arctic Frost has spied on law-abiding citizens across the nation, including President Trump. We cannot fix this situation by merely going after Jack Smith: we need to smash the future capabilities of anyone to conduct politically-motivated domestic surveillance and violate the 4th Amendment.”