President Trump late Tuesday urged House Republicans to vote against the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, saying Congress should not support it until a full investigation into how it was used to monitor members of his campaign is completed.
“I hope all Republican House Members vote NO on FISA until such time as our country is able to determine how and why the greatest political, criminal and subversive scandal in USA history took place,” Mr. Trump tweeted.
Shortly after Mr. Trump’s tweet, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, asked the Democratic leadership to pull the bill.
FISA is a controversial law that allows the government to spy on domestic and foreign individuals it suspects are involved in terrorism or other wrongdoing. Mr. Trump and his allies allege it was abused by the FBI to spy on his campaign ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Three critical provisions in the act are currently expired, and Congress is expected to vote on renewal Tuesday.
Earlier this month the Senate approved the House bill, but amended it to allow legal experts to scrutinize government applications to surveil an individual. The Senate change sends the bill back to the House for another vote.
Privacy hawks in the House say the Senate reforms don’t go far enough. Reps Zoe Lofgren, California Democrat, and Warren Davidson, Ohio Republican, have proposed an amendment that would ban the government from snooping on Americans’ web history without a warrant.
A similar measure in the Senate was defeated by one vote.
The Justice Department’s Congressional liaison said Wednesday Attorney General William Barr would recommend that Mr. Trump veto the House bill if it includes the Senate reforms and the proposal by Ms. Lofgren and Mr. Davidson.
The Department opposes the Senate-passed bill in its current form and also opposes the Lofgren amendment in the House. Given the cumulative negative effect of these legislative changes on the Department’s ability to identify and track terrorists and spies, the Department must oppose the legislation now under consideration in the House. If passed, the Attorney General would recommend that the President veto the legislation,” said Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd in a statement.
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