Trump: "Kill FISA"

Late yesterday (April 9), the House Rules Committee held a marathon hearing to set the terms of debate, including allowable amendments, for the controversial Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA, H.R. 7888), the bill to reauthorize the soon- to- expire Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and specifically the repeatedly abused Section 702 of the law. And as you can see from the screenshot from TruthSocial, former President Trump weighed in very early this morning against FISA even being reauthorized. For surveillance reformers, the news out of the Rules Committee is mixed. An amendment to require the FBI to get a probable cause- based warrant to access the stored communications of Americans collected under Section 702 was made in order. However, the also much- sought ban on the ability of the FBI to simply buy US person information from data brokers (like RELX) was not among the amendments approved for floor action. Instead, it will (theoretically) be brought up for a vote on Friday under what's known as "suspension of the rules," which in House procedural parlance means the bill (offered by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH)) would need to get the support of two- thirds of House members to pass.