Senate fumes as Clayton chaos unwinds path to renew FISA

The Hill ^ | 6/17/26 | Rebecca Beitsch

[cotton1706]

President Trump’s scuttling of a hearing to review his pick for director of national intelligence has once again plunged Congress into chaos over who will lead the intelligence community and how lawmakers can renew the nation’s lapsed spy powers.

The Senate spent the morning ping-ponging over whether members would even hear from nominee Jay Clayton, who serves as a U.S. attorney. Trump said the hearing was canceled, but Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), an ally of the president, initially rebuffed him, saying the hearing would still go on. Cotton later backtracked and announced the “regrettable” decision that the president had directed his nominee to not show.

Democrats and Republicans alike complained about the lack of certainty on all fronts.

In addition to delaying Clayton’s confirmation, which Democrats say is a prerequisite for reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Trump said just before 4 a.m. EDT that he wouldn’t approve the spy powers unless his voting bill, the SAVE America Act, was attached.

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TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: assistantdemocrats; considerthesource; elections; fisa; officialdemnarrative; ohnoanyway; randspam; rinos; senate; tds; tdstrolls; theshill

[cotton1706]

Boy those Senators can move at high speed when they want to!

They were going to confirm a nominee TODAY!

Then they could re-authorize spying on Americans, then go on a month-long recess, then play the government shutdown/continuing resolution game again, which is their favorite!

But alas, not to be!

I enjoy reading about them "fuming"!

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

The democrats, including Samantha Powers, used FISA to spy on Republicans.

[ProudDeplorable]

Hold fast, Mr. President. Don’t authorise section 702 unless the SAVE act is passed.

[HYPOCRACY]

Then use FISA to spy on Thune.