NEW: Senate revives surveillance brawl

The Hill ^ | 10th May 2020 | BY JORDAIN CARNEY

[RandFan]

The Senate is set to revive a fight over a shadowy surveillance court, bringing to a head a months-long stalemate that resulted in the lapse of three intelligence programs.

The looming debate, which will pit some of President Trump’s biggest allies against each other, comes on the heels of growing questions about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court after the Justice Department inspector general found widespread errors as part of an interim report on warrant applications.

Leadership wants to pass a House-passed bill that pairs a reauthorization of the intelligence programs with some changes to the FISA process.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will bring the bill to the floor this week and urged his colleagues to pass it “free of amendments that would jeopardize important tools that keep America safe.”

The House bill, which cleared that chamber in March in a 278-136 vote, will “increase transparency in the FISA process and respond to the shameful abuses of 2016 while preserving the toolbox that professionals use to defend us,” McConnell said from the Senate floor late last week.

The House bill reauthorizes one program dealing with “roving” wiretaps, which track individuals across multiple devices, and a second on surveilling “lone wolf” suspects not connected to a known terrorist group.

It would also reauthorize Section 215, which allows the government to request “tangible things” like documents relevant to a national security investigation, but makes changes including ending a controversial call records program. The three programs expired in mid-March; the Senate passed a short-term extension but it was not taken up by the House.

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the No. 4 Senate Republican and a member of the Intelligence Committee, said he expected the House bill to pass without changes, which would send it directly to Trump’s desk.

“I would think that we would be able to pass the House-passed bill,” he said.

Sen. John Thune (R-D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, added that “I suspect that in the end, hopefully the product will be the House bill.”

But the Senate’s looming debate is filled with pockets of uncertainty.

It’s unclear if Trump will sign the House bill if it reaches his desk as currently drafted. Attorney General Bill Barr supports the House bill, but Trump told Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), an opponent of the House bill, earlier this year that he didn’t, according to a spokesman for the GOP senator.

Trump has been tightlipped about the bill since then as the country shifted its focus to the coronavirus.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) added that while he isn’t sure what the president will do, he is urging him to veto it if the House bill reaches his desk without changes.

“We'll see what happens. But I think it's an important debate to have, and I will encourage the president to veto it if it still allows Americans to be abused in FISA court,” he said.

Several senators say they are still undecided on the bill, and both leadership and supporters of additional reforms acknowledge the final vote could be close.

Thune, asked if he expected each of the amendments would fail, said “you never know until you have the votes,” quipping that the House bill will pass without changes “if things go well.”

Lee, who is offering one of the amendments, predicted that the margin on the House bill would depend on the outcome of the amendment fight.

“If none of the amendments are adopted. I think it gets tougher to pass it,” he said.

Under a deal struck by leadership, when the Senate takes up the House bill they will also vote on an amendment from Lee and , a second from Paul and a third from Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), each of which adds more reforms to either the FISA court or the surveillance programs beyond what was included in the House bill.

The amendment from Paul would prevent FISA warrants from being used against Americans, the Lee-Leahy proposal would strengthen the role of outside advisers and the Daines-Wyden amendment would prevent law enforcement from obtaining internet browsing and search data history.

The House bill made some reforms to the FISA Court amid pressure from a coalition of libertarian-minded Republicans and progressives in the House, which were melded with growing GOP concerns about the implications of Horowitz’s finding of errors within the warrant applications related to former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

The reforms include requiring the attorney general to sign off on FISA warrants applications involving elected officials.

But that bill was not enough to placate members in both parties. In the House, the bill split some of Trump allies, with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) voting for it and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) voting against it.

Several senators say they are open to further changes, and remain undecided on if they would support the House bill without additional reforms. Because each of the amendments is expected to need 60 votes, they are likely to fail.

“I’m going to support Mike Lee’s amendment. ...If it doesn’t pass, if we don’t have an amendment version, I’m still undecided,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told The Hill.

Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), John Kennedy (R-La.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) each added that they were also undecided on supporting the House bill without changes.

“I’ll be voting for both of the Lee and the Paul amendments,” Braun said, adding that he would have “think about” whether or not he will vote for the House bill without them.

Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and also indicated that they are waiting to see the outcome of the amendment votes.

“There are some amendments that have been offered and that will decide my final vote,” Durbin said, adding that he is supportive of the Lee-Leahy proposal.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is running his own investigation into the FISA process, which supporters of the House bill argue could be a forum for making broader changes to the surveillance court separate from next week’s vote.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is a member of Graham’s committee, said he would support the House bill and that additional changes to the FISA process should “go through the regular order.”

Republicans have grown increasingly alarmed about the FISA process in the wake of Horowitz’s reports finding errors within the FBI’s handling of warrant applications. Graham has already started holding closed-door depositions with lower-level officials and has said he wants to work his way up to higher profile targets like former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) a member of Graham’s committee, said he was undecided on the House bill.

“I’m looking hard at the amendments. I mean I think we ought to renew the statue, but I’m not convinced we ought to renew the statue without making some necessary changes,” he said.

Kennedy, stressed that he wasn’t criticizing Graham, but that he had heard for years that “we’re going to fix the FBI problem.”

“And we’ve never done it,” he said. “And you don’t get that many opportunities around here to make changes, and this is an opportunity to try to fix it.”

[RandFan]

Time for a VETO !

[McBuff]

growing questions about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court after the Justice Department inspector general found widespread errors

Yea. . .those widespread errors. . .and they also found widespread errors in John Wayne Gacy's crawlspace.

[hardspunned]

“keep America safe”? Hardly, rather it’s keep the DS safe.

[RandFan]

Ditch Mitch.

[Wuli]

Trump should veto the bill demanding no bill until after the Senate provides to the public, in a very public way, the abuses the FISA court permitted and committed in recent years. Trump should remind the Senators that Attorney General Barr will make his own very public report to the Senators covering everything, lest they get the notion that they can be trusted to cover everything.

Then the whole FISA court has to step down and be replaced.

Only when that is all very public can the public judge the “reforms” the legislators have in mind, and put any new FISA court members on notice as to the kind of scrutiny expected in their work.

[RandFan]

Great post.

Lindsey has been stalling for a YEAR... He isn’t serious. That’s why it comes to this and I hope the president uses his veto.

[dila813]

They need to be forced to hire a defense counsel to represent the person that can’t defend himself to keep them office. The defense counsel should get their fee structure incentivized to be very aggressive in their defense along with the route to see everything regarding the target whether or not it used to support the FISA.

[Travis McGee]

The Flynn memos and transcripts being released was just step one. Barr is working a plan. All shall be revealed.

Every illegal or unauthorized NSA search they conducted (for unmasking, etc), left digital fingerprints.

[Imagine your life being examined under these microscopes, for legal action, leverage, or blackmail. Or how about Chief Justice Roberts, for example?]

Now Obama's got a very big problem, because all of his illegal orders and the actions of his henchmen are going to come out.

The Obama clique couldn't resist using these powerful surveillance tools against their enemies, and now the entire sordid affair will be laid bare, chapter by chapter.

[Wuli]

Lindsey acts similar to long time federal bureaucrats, seeing the institutional history of the Senate as an object deserving the Senators’ protection, though no such obligation is in their oath of office. Too much “decorum” and too timid to act.

[Travis McGee]

Why is Obama Panicking Now? – The Importance of Understanding Political Surveillance In The Era of President Obama…
Posted on May 9, 2020 by sundance
Why is former President Obama calling forth all his defensive resources now? Why did former national security advisor Susan Rice write her cya letter? Why have republicans in congress not been willing to investigate the true origins of political surveillance? What is the reason for so much anger, desperation and opposition from a variety of interests?

With the release of recent transcripts and the declassification of material from within the IG report, the Carter Page FISA and Flynn documents showing FBI activity, there is a common misconception about why the intelligence apparatus began investigating the Trump campaign in the first place. Why was Donald Trump considered a threat?

In this outline we hope to provide some fully cited deep source material that will explain the origin; and specifically why those inside the Intelligence Community began targeting Trump and using Confidential Human Sources against campaign officials.

[rest of the deep dive at the link]
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/05/09/why-is-obama-panicking-now-the-importance-of-understanding-political-surveillance-in-the-era-of-president-obama/

[angmo]

Mental patients. Why on God’s green Earth would Trump not veto a bill keeping a program that was used to pull a coup on him? Do these idiots have a brain cell?

[RandFan]

There’s something along the lines of this in Lee’s amendment.

See what you think:

https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2020/3/lee-leahy-introduce-bipartisan-fisa-reform-bill

[RandFan]

Bipartisan sell out.

Should be an interesting fight

Hope Trump has his veto pen ready.

[VTenigma]

House bill? I think not. Undoubtedly chock full of Easter eggs, Trojan horses, and unexploded ordinance just waiting to go off.

[RandFan]

You know them too well...

[dila813]

Not too bad, but the defense should have power to just go in and see everything, not just what they are given when they ask for it. Also need to incentivize them to be aggressive, a lot of these guys don’t want to make waves because they know which way the bread is buttered.

This 2 degrees removed from a US Target should be killed, it should be 2 degrees removed from who their foreign contact is. The US Person is already degree #1, the foreigner is always person zero, they need to redefine this.

[bluescape]

“[rest of the deep dive at the link]

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/05/09/why-is-obama-panicking-now-the-importance-of-understanding-political-surveillance-in-the-era-of-president-obama/

Long read but worth the time. This is a peek at the rest of the iceberg, and it’s a doozy.

[Uncle Miltie]

Filibuster.

Defeat.

Abject failure and deep state tool.

Privably abused against Americans for political purposes.

KILL. THE. BILL.

[RandFan]

Lets try!

[Travis McGee]

I should have figured this out, but I also learned in CTH today that Barr appointed US Attorney’s to review all of the cases coming from the dossier for abuse.

Not just Flynn, (Jenson), but also the others, Carter Page, George P, and Manafort, (that I recall off the top of my head).

Jenson’s report on Flynn was just #1.

And then comes Durham and his CRIMINAL probe....