February 26, 2020
Previously Chairman Lindsey Graham promised to hold public hearings on reforms needed to the FISA process prior to any reauthorization vote. However, with two weeks remaining until current FISA authorization expires the Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to hold a single hearing, and the senate calendar is empty.
In November of 2019 buried deep in the congressional budget Continuing Resolution (CR) was a short-term extension to reauthorize the FISA “business records provision”, the “roving wiretap” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], all parts of the Patriot Act. As a result of the FISA CR inclusion the terminal deadline was pushed to March 15, 2020.
The Senate is scheduled to go back into recess on March 13th. Additionally, the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court order (due February 5th) has still not been made public. At a minimum the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court needs to be made public prior to any reauthorization by congress; and to better understand the scale of the issue, an explanation of the the DOJ/FBI sequestered evidence needs to be made public.
Representatives requesting FISA reform prior to renewal include: Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, Doug Collins, Jody Rice, Devin Nunes and Steve Scalise. Additionally, Senator Mike Lee and Senator Rand Paul are trying to force reform or let the current version expire. However, Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell, along with AG Bill Barr, want a clean FISA renewal without public hearings….
Steve Scalise✔@SteveScalise
The FBI misled the FISA court 17 times under Comey’s watch.
We can’t allow that to happen again.@Jim_Jordan is right. FISA needs to be reformed so that people who lie and abuse their power are held fully accountable and prosecuted.
Doug Collins✔@CollinsforGA
More shenanigans by House Democrats today.
But I’m not going to stop fighting until we have meaningful reforms to the FISA courts so that what happened to President Trump in 2016 never happens to any President again!
Senator Rand Paul✔@RandPaul
A.G. Barr advocating for ‘clean renewal’ of Patriot Act without any legislation to reform FISA is a disservice to @realDonaldTrump and should be roundly defeated.
The secret FISA court should be forbidden from allowing spying on political campaigns ever again — period!
TheLastRefuge@TheLastRefuge2House side of gang of eight includes:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Leader Kevin McCarthy
HPSCI Chair Adam Schiff
HPSCI Ranking Devin Nunes https://twitter.com/AlexNBCNews/status/1232703957606313984 …Alex Moe✔@AlexNBCNews
CIA Director Gina Haspel was on Capitol Hill this morning briefing the House side of the Gang of 8. Topic unclear.
Rep. Jim Jordan✔@Jim_Jordan
Comey’s FBI misled the FISA Court 17 times.
We can’t simply reauthorize the system that allowed those lies and omissions to happen.
Now is our chance to fix it.
Mark Meadows✔@RepMarkMeadows
Former FBI officials in 2016-17 gravely abused the FISA process and lied to the FISA court 17 times
Now, some members of Congress want to do a clean reauthorization of FISA anyway
Totally unacceptable. Should NEVER happen.
Rep. Jody Hice✔@CongressmanHice
The IG found gross mishandling, incompetence & bias in the FISA process.
Democrats want a clean FISA reauth with no questions, no reforms, nice & quiet so nobody notices for the same reason @GOPOversight isn’t allowed to hold a hearing:
They want #FISAabuse swept under the rug! https://twitter.com/RepMarkMeadows/status/1232686095273426952 …
Mark Meadows✔@RepMarkMeadows
Former FBI officials in 2016-17 gravely abused the FISA process and lied to the FISA court 17 times
Now, some members of Congress want to do a clean reauthorization of FISA anyway
Totally unacceptable. Should NEVER happen.
Mike Lee✔@SenMikeLee
At the Senate GOP lunch today I made a long case against a simple reauthorization of the FISA program. Some are arguing the program needs no reform and that DOJ can put in place internal quality control mechanisms. That’s not good enough. 1/
Mike Lee✔@SenMikeLee
Without statutory changes unaccountable bureaucrats will continue to be able to abuse this power. We need to:
1) End the Call Detail Records Program entirely.
2) Strengthen language so that FISC must appoint amici in more cases. 2/
Lou Dobbs✔@LouDobbs
#LDTPoll Should Congress refuse to re-authorize the FISA courts until the American people can be assured we will never see a repeat of the rubber-stamp political corrupt attacks on President Trump?
Centinel2012 