House Speaker Mike Johnson, once a hard-line critic of a controversial surveillance law intended to target terrorists but often surveilling Americans’ communications without a warrant, is evolving on the issue.
Johnson (R-LA) is actively opposing a new warrant requirement for Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
As reported by The political insideronly a meeting with intelligence agents led the President to do a complete 180 on the issue.
“When I was a member of the judiciary, I saw all the abuses of the FBI — there were terrible abuses, over and over and over again,” Johnson told reporters of his changing position.
“And then when I became President, I went to the SCIF and got a confidential briefing from sort of a different perspective, to understand the need for Section 702 of FISA and how important it is to national security,” he continued. “And he gave me a different perspective.”
Speaker Mike Johnson delves into his FISA behavior since he was a rank-and-file member of the House, explaining that after receiving classified briefings he has a “different perspective.” pic.twitter.com/mrLj9ouEji
— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotcnn) April 10, 2024
On Wednesday, 19 Republicans joined 209 Democrats to block the reauthorization of FISA Section 702. The current status of his renewal is somewhat uncertain as it will expire on April 19th.
The Biden administration expects its intelligence-gathering authority under Section 702 to remain operational until April 2025, thanks to an earlier opinion from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which oversees surveillance applications.
RELATED: Speaker Mike Johnson provides explanation for his flip-flop on FISA spying on Americans
Kash Patel: FISA law needs to be reformed
Kash Patel is a former White House official under President Trump. He held various intelligence and defense roles for the former president.
A spokesperson for Patel warns that the FISA program has been used widely and illegally against American citizens. Even against President Trump.
“The FISC investigated and reported this [FBI Director Christopher] Wray’s FBI illegally used FISA 274,000 times against Americans last year alone,” they said in a statement.
He spoke with Patel, a former deputy director of national intelligence and national security attorney The political insider on the current FISA debate. He insists that there is only one logical conclusion to the question.
“FISA needs to be reformed,” he said. “The RussiaGate investigation, which I conducted for Congress, uncovered the largest DOJ/FBI criminal use of FISA ever.”
An investigation launched by Special Counsel Robert Mueller between 2017 and 2019 sought to examine Russian interference in the 2016 US election, including any links or coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Patel explained to The political insider the ultimate goal of the Department of Justice.
“The goal was to manipulate the election by arming the intelligence community and launching the largest disinformation campaign in U.S. political history,” he insists.
Despite the thorough investigation, Mueller’s final report did not find sufficient evidence to charge a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.
RELATED: Trump urges Republicans to stop reauthorization of warrantless surveillance: ‘KILL FISA’
Why these reforms are important
Kash Patel, recently rumored to be under consideration for a wide variety of roles in a second Trump administration, from CIA director to attorney general, explains why FISA reform is so urgent.
“Americans should never be illegally surveilled using spy tools, period,” he says The political insider. “Our government must never use these national defense measures against political opponents.”
In this regard, Patel plays with the idea that FISA 702 has been used on other presidential candidates besides Trump.
“The FBI has led the charge of illegally surveilling one presidential candidate that we know of, and we should certainly ask whether there are others,” he argues. “The fact that the answer to this question is seriously doubtful should shock the conscience.”
The FBI and the Department of Justice have abused their FISA power and their warrantless surveillance of so many Americans has been abused.
It needs more safeguards, but we also need to find the balance between national security and limiting government authority. pic.twitter.com/QVFysQWmw0
—Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) April 11, 2024
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, earlier this week sternly called for Congress to “kill” the FISA program.
“Kill FISA,” he wrote on his social media platform Truth. “It was used illegally against me and many others. They spied on my campaign!”
As Patel pushes for reform, he acknowledges why past abuses of FISA would lead to concerns among critics of the program who suggest it simply be eliminated.
“Repeated and unlawful FISA abuses by the Deep State have created a landscape of grave mistrust. Their focus has always been anything related to Trump,” he says The political insider. “They have taken no meaningful recourse action and there has been almost zero accountability.”
Can Trump fix it?
Patel adds that a new administration needs to be established to restore Americans’ trust in the intelligence community. The FISA program’s most notable victim may be the one man who can fix the system.
“The mission is regime change in the ruling cabal that devised these unconstitutional techniques to restore trust in our government agencies,” he declares. “That mission is led by Donald Trump.”
The fight Trump will face to win the election, however, will be difficult. When asked if the “deep state” is Still working to take down the Republican candidate – and using the media to aid the mission – Patel suggested that yes, he could.
“The FBI has millions of dollars in contracts with big tech just for elections,” he said. “What do you think?”
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