Weekly Patriots Roundup: The GOP's FISA War

Remember the illegal spy program, also known as FISA, that was used by the Deep State to derail President Donald Trump's first term in office, and spread the baseless lie that he was an agent of Putin? Well, Speaker Mike Johnson —yes, one of the top Republican lawmakers in the land — tried to pass a bill that would reauthorize Section 702 of FISA, which allows the federal government to conduct mass surveillance without a warrant. Remember the illegal spy program, also known as FISA, that was used by the Deep State to derail President Donald Trump's first term in office, and spread the baseless lie that he was an agent of Putin? Well, Speaker Mike Johnson —yes, one of the top Republican lawmakers in the land — tried to pass a bill that would [reauthorize Section 702 of FISA]( which allows the federal government to conduct mass surveillance without a warrant. Thankfully, [19 House Republicans on Wednesday pumped the brakes by blocking the bill](. Read on to find out more about why the GOP is so divided on the issue. In This Week's Newsletter ... - Real Big News: FISA Wars - Hot Off The Press: Mayorkas implodes - For The Record: NPR insider exposes bias Everything we do is made possible by our faithful subscribers. If you love reading the Daily Caller, [please consider joining us today.]( [JOIN US!]( REAL BIG NEWS GOP's Massive Split On FISA Threatens All-Out Party War Most Republican voters want FISA completely reined in —or else abolished. Even most moderate voters. Donald Trump wants it gone, certainly. So why aren't Republicans capitalizing on an easy slam dunk? The Daily Caller's Reagan Reese [breaks down]( the growing rift between "two broad camps" debating various reforms to the program: Intelligence community abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) have gone from a niche issue for libertarian-minded politicos to a priority among the Republican Party base, thanks largely to former President Donald Trump. Republicans have a chance to put an end to the law once and for all – or at least significantly reform it – but the party has spent months trying to reach a consensus on how to balance national security with the rights of Americans. "It’s delicate right now. The place is about to combust," a GOP source on Capitol Hill told the Daily Caller on Monday. Under Section 702 of the FISA, the government has the authorization to gather foreigners’ communications who have been flagged in relation to national security matters. The communications can be gathered even if the subject was talking about, or with, Americans. FISA was elevated from a relatively niche issue with the attention of privacy hawks in D.C. to a critical sticking point for Republicans after it was used to spy on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election season. Based on FISA-enabled surveillance, the national security state and corporate media were able to undercut Trump's first term in office by perpetuating the "Russiagate" conspiracy theory, the former president's allies have argued in the years since. The surveillance bill is set to expire on April 19, and after punting negotiations in December, Republican lawmakers, including avowed Trump allies, are now forced to consider the contentious issue. The GOP is divided into two broad camps over various proposed reforms, perhaps most notably a warrant requirement. National security hawks aligned with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have expressed more opposition to the requirement and other privacy-minded reforms -- members aligned with the [Judiciary Committee]( are stressing that FISA must no longer be a tool that can be used to spy on Americans, like what happened with the [Trump campaign](. A failure on the GOP's part to properly rein in FISA could send a bad signal to Republican voters, journalist Matt Taibbi told the Caller. "If Republicans don't vote for extensive FISA reform, it will mean they were never serious about getting to the bottom of the abuses in the Trump/Russia investigation. It would send a devastating message to Republican voters in particular," he said. "When I started working on the Russiagate story, I started hearing horror stories from Hill staffers, who apparently were surprised to learn how pervasive the misuse of FISA has been since passage of the FISA Amendments Act in '08," he continued. "The unmasking procedure has proved to be a joke with no real safeguards, and parallel structure (i.e. using intelligence illegally obtained from programs like this in ordinary criminal investigations) is probably far more common than we think." HOT OFF THE PRESS Mayorkas Gets Grilled: One of the Biden admin's most incompetent cabinet members, DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas was roasted on Capitol Hill Wednesday. During a hearing, Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy on Wednesday pressed Alejandro Mayorkas on what he said were facts about illegal immigration's electoral impact. The Census Bureau includes illegal immigrants and congressional seats are based on the data from the census, [according]( to the bureau's website. Kennedy asked Mayorkas questions on this topic, but the DHS secretary found fault with the "phrasing" and [lost his temper with the senator](. Watch [here](. Meanwhile, Sex Offenders Invade: Fifty-four convicted sex offenders [have been arrested]( in the last six months after illegally crossing into the United States, officials confirm. Chief Patrol Agent Robert Danley of U.S. Border Patrol’s Del Rio section took to Twitter to reveal that since Oct. 1, 2023, the Del Rio sector agents have apprehended 54 convicted sex offenders after they crossed the border illegally and attempted to “evade law enforcement.” “Our agents remain steadfast in safeguarding our border and protecting our communities,” Danley stated. FBI Confessions: Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Thursday [acknowledged errors]( in the investigation of former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign as he pushed for a warrantless surveillance tool's renewal. The FBI used a document containing opposition research on Trump to earn approval from a secret court that oversees FISA to secretly monitor campaign aide Carter Page. McCabe on "CNN Newsroom With Jim Acosta" advocated renewing it while admitting the act has led to misuse. TRENDING What's your take on this? [Click here]( and scroll down to leave a comment! FOR THE RECORD National Propaganda Radio: A 25-year NPR veteran [wrote a damning exposé]( on how the publicly-funded went from liberal to an all-out woke newsroom in the wake of Trump's election in 2016. “Persistent rumors that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia over the election became the catnip that drove reporting,” editor Uri Berliner wrote. “At NPR, we hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff.” He continued, “But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.” (N.B., Berliner is still employed by NPR, so this is a pretty big bombshell.) Catherine Herridge Bombshell: Award-winning investigative journalist Catherine Herridge became one of 800 staffers to get laid off from CBS during its massive purge of employees in February, and she was the subject of a First Amendment legal fight at the time of her departure over her refusal to disclose her source for investigative pieces she wrote for Fox News in 2017 regarding a federal probe about Yanping Chen, a Chinese American scientist. On Thursday, Herridge [laced into]( her former employer, CBS, accusing the corporate behemoth of “journalistic rape” after the network seized her records and files following her departure. DC ORIGINALS STREAMING NOW In this groundbreaking exclusive documentary, the Daily Caller traces the long history of election fraud in the US, unravels what happened in 2020, and unveils the Left’s three-step plan to secure future victories at the ballot box. Get the facts before it's too late. 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