Combined dispatches from Fox News, AP and Townhall
President Trump and his arch-nemesis, Jerrold Nadler, both agree that a spy court renewal bill that lacks reforms is as good as dead. Without substantial revisions the measure will be allowed to die, both men are saying.
“The president said he’s not signing without something happening,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., related after a 90-minute meeting with key lawmakers. "He pushed back very vigorously and said, ‘We’re not doing this.’"
Attorney General William Barr and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., remain outnumbered by their Republican colleagues as they fight to convince Trump to renew FISA with minimal changes, with significant reforms to be taken up later.
But today Nadler, the New York Democrat who helped manage the House's Trump impeachment case, told Fox News that he is willing to let the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expire – which could occur in 10 days – if lawmakers cannot agree on how to reauthorize the program.
Nadler, head of the House judiciary committee, has said he favors a major overhaul to the surveillance program – which gives the government authority to wiretap and electronically skim information between foreign entities and people inside the United States in the interest of national security – after Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general, documented significant errors and flaws in the law's application during the FBI's wiretapping of Carter Page, then a Trump campaign aide.
Despite this, with the "sunset" deadline ticking closer, Nadler’s panel canceled a markup session to prepare a new FISA bill last week over disagreements about amendments.
Both Republicans and Democrats have expressed concerns about the merits of FISA after alleged abuses were exposed in the Russia investigation and the task is made more difficult as the Trump administration struggles to fill a vacancy for a new director of National Intelligence.
Trump has sharply criticized government intelligence agencies, accusing them of abusing their authority in an effort to spy on political opponents and has demanded major reforms before he will pass a reauthorization.
Some Republicans who have advocated for significant changes to clamp down on the program have accused Democrats of shelving discussions in an attempt to prevent changes from being made.
Paul insisted Tuesday that Trump would let the FISA bill die if it contains no serious revisions.
"I just came from the White House and the President made it absolutely clear, no quibbling about it, absolutely clear he will not sign clean reauthorization of the Patriot Act unless we reform FISA," Paul told Lou Dobbs, a Fox Business newsman.
"The proposal I gave him was this: don't use FISA, which is a foreign intelligence court, to spy on Americans. Simply say that Americans, if you want to spy on them, you have to go to a constitutional, Article III court to get the wiretap.
Paul continued, "This would protect Americans from the abuses that happened in the Trump campaign, but these abuses could happen to Republicans or Democrats if we have biased people in the FBI or the intelligence agencies. So I think the best reform is let's take Americans out of FISA and let's keep the foreign surveillance court targeted toward foreigners."
Both Paul and Nadler were adamant that the spy court must not be made part of the coronavirus response -- a trial balloon that has raised fears and anger on all sides.
Congress brushed off that idea as the Senate today approved an $8.3 billion coronavirus response appropriation with no mention of FISA. Paul's suggestion that the funds come from the foreign aid budget was quashed by his colleagues.
Trump is expected to sign the emergency health measure shortly.
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