Trump’s announcement came shortly after Republicans failed in the Senate Requests To unanimously approve an extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) — which allows the U.S. government to spy on the electronic communications of noncitizens residing outside the country without a warrant — and a failed vote in the GOP-controlled House.
“If Trump had announced this last night, or even this morning, it could have helped avoid a fall in FISA/702,” Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio said. He said Nominated by Clayton. “Now the House has finished (and will end next week) and the Senate is holding its final vote for the week at the moment — but most senators have already voted and headed to the airport.”
The Senate is scheduled to return on Monday, but Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) He said He told reporters after Clayton declared, “No matter what they do, Bolte has to go. He’s still in that role.”
As for the House, with recess approaching and Section 702 set to expire on Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tried to get two-thirds majority support for an extension on Thursday. He has received support from seven Democratic representatives. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Don Davis (North Carolina), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Josh Gottheimer (New Jersey), Susie Lee (Nevada), and Mary Glusenkamp Perez (Washington) – but 19 Republicans Join the rest of the Democrats attending the convention 198-218 votes.
Democratic leaders who opposed the extension pointed to Trump’s appointment of Bolte after Tulsi Gabbard’s recent resignation was announced. As director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bolte sent criminal referrals to the U.S. Department of Justice, alleging mortgage fraud by four of the president’s political opponents.
“Section 702 is an important foreign intelligence authority, but we cannot vote in good conscience to reauthorize it without making important reforms to protect the national security and constitutional privacy rights of Americans.” He said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-CT) and Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD).
They continued: “Bill Bolt has no relevant national security experience. Thus, his appointment represents a challenge to the law that requires the Director of National Intelligence to have ‘extensive’ national security experience. The apparent motivation for his promotion is Bill Bolt’s apparent willingness to search government databases for alleged information about President Trump’s chosen political enemies.” “There is a path to reauthorizing FISA, but it will require enacting meaningful reforms. We oppose this bill to postpone the problem even further.”
“The warrant requirement would pass today if Republican leadership puts it to a vote,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a key progressive leader in the chamber, said in explaining her vote against “this sham extension of FISA that would allow continued spying on the American people.”
“However, Trump is doubling down on his appointment of Bill Bolt, closing any paths to negotiation,” she said before announcing Clayton’s appointment. “I voted no today, and I will continue to vote no until an injunction is issued to protect our civil liberties.”
“Speaker Johnson continues to try and fail to obstruct FISA reauthorization without reform, anticipating different results — this time without even a simple majority in the House,” Hajar Hamadou, senior policy advisor at Demand Progress, a leader in the massive coalition of civil society groups pushing for reforms, said in a statement.
“If Johnson wants a FISA deal, all he has to do is allow a vote on the privacy reform amendments,” Hamadou continued. “Adding warrant requirements to FISA is a path forward that has clear bipartisan support. The only reason we stand against the deadline now is because congressional leaders and the White House continue to ignore this clear reality and obstruct privacy reforms from getting a fair vote.”
Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of Brennan Center for JusticeFreedom and National Security Program, likewise He said On social media, “Section 702 was in trouble long before Trump announced Bolte’s appointment as acting Director of National Intelligence (and, by the way, it’s possible Bolte will remain in that role through the midterms). Renewing Section 702 is deadlocked because Republican leaders won’t allow votes on widely supported reforms.”
After Johnson complained to reporters about the vote, he said, “I pray to God that we don’t have a serious disaster on our shores over the next few weeks,” Jake LaPerroc of the Center for Democracy and Technology said. He said: “I’m sorry, you can’t claim the high ground claiming to be transfixed on our national security when you treat FISA as less important than obstructing all reformist voices. You certainly can’t claim the high ground when you treat it as less important than going on vacation.”
While national security hawks tried to exploit the deadline to force an extension, suggesting that the lapse would cause a “potentially large gap in foreign intelligence collection,” privacy advocates like LaPeroc have Confirm “The text of the law makes it clear that this threat of collection suddenly becomes ambiguous… is a cause for fear and not a real possibility.”
As Lapeyroc explained earlier this week: “As long as the FISA 702 certification is active, collections from telecommunications providers based on the guidance stemming from that certification will continue. Because the FISA court consent “Latest annual certifications in March, this lapse won’t happen until 2027.”
The House and Senate GOP failure to extend Section 702 on Thursday came a day after Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) vetoed a proposal from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) — a leading privacy advocate — to pass unanimously a nine-month renewal of the warrant requirement. The Republican also opposed a five-week bid.
Criticizing Cornyn’s moves, Hammadou said Wednesday that “surveillance hawks spent all day screaming about how important it was to renew FISA, but then objected to a good-faith deal that would reauthorize Section 702 with popular, bipartisan privacy reforms. The only thing preventing FISA renewal is continued and unwarranted opposition by congressional leadership to making the government get a warrant when it tries to access Americans’ private communications.”
The Demand Progress campaigner added: “A clear majority in both parties, and Americans in general, want to obtain a judicial order before renewing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.” “Why would congressional leadership prefer sunsets over privacy?”
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