Johnson Introduces Doomed-To-Fail Warrantless Spy Powers Reauthorization

Speaker Mike Johnson is embarking on arguably the most quixotic journey of his speakership — introducing a bill to reauthorize warrantless spy powers despite having little support among Democrats or conservative Republicans. Mr. Johnson is putting the bill on the floor with a requirement that it receives two-thirds of the vote, which is something that is nearly guaranteed to not take place. Mr. Johnson, President Trump, and Senator John Thune have been working for weeks to try to reauthorize FISA Section 702 — a nearly 20-year-old law which allows the government to surveil the communications records of foreign nationals. Libertarian-aligned conservatives hate the law as currently written because it often leads to the hoovering up of Americans’ private information. Some progressive Democrats hate it for the same reason, though now, even the most pro-Section 702 Democrats are refusing to get on board. Enter the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, who was recently tapped by the president to take over as acting Director of National Intelligence — a position being vacated by Tulsi Gabbard, who is resigning to care for her husband during his cancer treatment. Mr. Pulte is most well-known for using government information in order to attack Mr. Trump’s enemies. New York’s attorney general, Letitia James; a Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook; and Senator Adam Schiff have all been targets of Mr. Pulte’s wrath. He has used government documents to try to either nudge government lawyers to get grand jury indictments or, in Ms. Cook’s case, give Mr. Trump a pretext to try to remove a Fed governor in an unprecedented move. Despite concerns about Section 702 lapsing at the end of the day on Friday, leading Democrats tell The New York Sun that they are not going to give Mr. Trump their support so long as Mr. Pulte is set to become DNI director eight days from now. The House minority leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, tells the Sun that he is a “hard no” on voting to extend Section 702 — at least until Mr. Trump says Mr. Pulte will not be the new acting DNI. “It’s my view that many of the national security Democrats who’ve historically been supportive of continuing the surveillance authority as it currently exists have deep skepticism about moving forward even with a short-term extension,” Mr. Jeffries said. He tells the Sun he plans to speak with his leadership team about a possible effort to whip against — or urge colleagues to vote against — the Section 702 reauthorization which will come up Thursday morning. Mr. Johnson told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that he will call up a short-term extension of Section 702 authorities which would last only until July 2. Democrats say they don’t want Mr. Pulte having any control over those powers, even for a minute. Mr. Pulte is due to become acting DNI on June 19, according to the president. “If Pulte is there, I’m not voting for it,” the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Greg Meeks, tells the Sun. Mr. Meeks was one of 42 Democratic lawmakers to vote for the most recent Section 702 reauthorization in April. The top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Congressman Jim Himes, said on Monday that he was also likely to vote against the bill. The real problem for Messrs. Johnson and Trump lies in the Senate, where Democrats say they will not aid Republicans in their effort to pass a Section 702 renewal bill. The top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner, said he could get on board until someone like the current deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lukas, was made the acting director. He says Mr. Pulte is a non-starter. “If he is acting director during this short-term extension that’s within the law, I could be supportive of that” Mr. Warner said. Federal law currently requires that a Director of National Intelligence have “extensive” national security or military experience. “The law is clear,” Mr. Warner said. “The law says that if the DNI leaves, the acting [director] takes [his or her] place. I can live with Mr. Lukas.” Mr. Lukas was previously an intelligence analyst at the CIA for more than 15 years. Other Senate Democrats who have long supported reauthorizations of Section 702 agree with Mr. Warner. Senator Angus King, a moderate independent who sits on the Intelligence Committee, says it would be a “reasonable” compromise to install Mr. Lukas, which would give Democrats the comfort to vote for reauthorization. The House majority leader, Congressman Steve Scalise, made clear that he and the rest of the GOP leadership team want to put Democrats on the record Thursday morning when the House plans to hold a vote. The vote Mr. Johnson plans to hold would require a two-thirds majority in order to pass, which — depending on attendance issues — would mean that about 290 House members would have to vote yes. “I think it’s disgraceful that anybody would jeopardize the national security of our country because that’s what [Section 702] does,” Mr. Scalise tells the Sun. “If anybody’s against that, they’re gonna have to explain why. It can’t be about the personality of somebody that’s not even in [the] position.”

Johnson Introduces Doomed-To-Fail Warrantless Spy Powers Reauthorization

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