President Donald Trump came out swinging on Thursday against an expiring spying provision that his White House had said was useful to protecting national security the night before.
Trump said that Section 702 of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act ‘may have been used’ to ‘abuse and surveil’ his presidential campaign by Barack Obama’s administration.
He claimed in a tweet that a dossier of dirt put together by an ex-spy that has not been corroborated may have been used to obtain a warrant to surveil him.
Trump first suggested that Congress vote down a bill extending the spying powers for six more years, just as the House begins its debate, only to back the bill later, saying it helps the government to get ‘bad guys’ in foreign lands.
President Donald Trump came out swinging on Thursday against an expiring spying provision that his White House had said was useful to protecting national security the night before
Trump said that Section 702 of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act ‘may have been used’ to ‘abuse and surveil’ his presidential campaign by Barack Obama ‘s administration
The president’s tweet directly contradicted a Wednesday evening statement from his press secretary encouraging lawmakers to reauthorize the act.
A White House statement credited to Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders rejected a proposal in the House to limit law enforcement entities’ access to data that’s obtained by the intelligence community under Section 702.
Sanders said the administration ‘strongly opposes’ the USA Rights amendment that’s being introduced in the House today by Republican Rep. Justin Amash, a libertarian from Michigan.
‘This amendment would re-establish the walls between intelligence and law enforcement that our country knocked down following the attacks of 9/11 in order to increase information sharing and improve our national security,’ she said. ‘The Administration urges the House to reject this amendment and preserve the useful role FISA’s Section 702 authority plays in protecting American lives.’
Less than 12 hours later Trump threw cold water on the position of his own White House, saying in a tweet that he believes the federal government may have used the spying powers authorized in the act to spy on his campaign.
‘House votes on controversial FISA ACT today.” This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?’ he said.
Trump made an explosive charge last year that Obama wiretapped him. The sitting president never provided any information to back the claim up.
To surveil him legally, federal officials would have had to have obtained a special warrant from a FISA court.
Trump associates who have been charged with crimes in connection to the government’s Russia probe were surveiled, however, including Paul Manafort.
Manafort was spied on after the FBI obtained a warrant through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to investigate him for work that he did for a Ukranian political party. A second warrant was issued, CNN reported last year, after he became a person of interest in the Russian collusion probe.
The dossier that Trump referred to in his tweet could have been the source of a warrant for surveillance. If so, that’s not something that his Department of Justice has disclosed, though.