FISA court
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mma
April 15, 2026, edition of Newsmax's *Carl Higbie: Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): Look, Democrats spent years weaponizing the FISA court, this is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They used it to spy on Trump. They used it to push the Russian collusion hoax and try to destroy him. This is what Mike Flynn got caught up in, too.
Well, now, with the program about to expire, Trump's summoning the GOP holdouts to the White House, telling Republicans to, quote, stick together and pass a clean extension our military needs. I'm shocked to hear this.
President Trump posted on Truth Social, in part, while parts of the FISA were illegally and unfortunately used against me in the Democrats' disgraceful witch hunt and attack in the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, and perhaps it would be used against me in the future, I am willing to risk the giving up of my rights and privileges as a citizen for our great military and country.
Respectfully, Mr. President, I am not. And if you recall too, Mike Johnson, our speaker of the House, he campaigned against FISA when he was a congressman because nobody's ever been held accountable for the violations of it. That's why I'm not willing to see this renewed. Newsmax legal analyst Jay Town, and attorney at Judicial Watch, and author of the fantastic book Defiant, Christina Bobb. Christina, you've been in the middle of this for a while. I am — I was like floored by this.
CHRISTINA BOBB (GUEST): I was floored as well. FISA comes up for renewal every two years and every two years conservatives are saying kill it, kill it, kill it. In April of 2024, exactly two years ago today, President Trump put out on Truth Social, kill FISA. He explained that FISA is bad. MAGA was like kill FISA. And then the first chance he gets in office, he's trying to renew it. So no, this is bad. I think any Republican that tries to renew this needs to either be primaried or just flat out vote Democrat. This is anti-American. This is terrible for our country.
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Trump once opposed government surveillance — at least the kind he claimed was directed against him.
“KILL FISA," Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2024. "IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS."
But now that Trump can surveil rather than be surveilled, a conservative is calling him out over his surveillance state.
“It's been two years and five days since Trump wrote that, but it might as well have been another lifetime,” said Eric Boehm, a reporter at Reason who covers economic policy, trade policy and elections. “On Wednesday, Trump again took to Truth Social as Congress was debating a possible extension to Section 702 of FISA, which allows intelligence services to scoop up electronic communications between Americans and individuals overseas.”
Trump is now looking to extend FISA surveillance powers, even as other privacy-minded members of the Republican Party oppose that effort. The extension would permit the CIA, National Security Agency, FBI and other agencies to collect and analyze huge swathes of overseas communications without a warrant. It also sweeps up the conversations of any Americans who interact with international targets for surveillance.
"I am willing to risk the giving up of my Rights and Privileges as a Citizen for our Great Military and Country!" Trump wrote. "We need to stick together when this Bill comes before the House Rules Committee today to keep it CLEAN!"
Boehm has written for conservative publications like The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Signal and The Washington Examiner and is the a featured speaker at seminars hosted by The Libertarian Institute and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). And he vehemently opposes what he calls Trump’s overreaches in government power.
“It sure would be nice if Trump, who was once a prominent target of these surveillance powers, were willing to advocate for changes,” said Boehm. “Alas, now that those powers are ones he gets to wield, there is no need for consistency or principles.”
Last year The Conversation raised alarms over Trump potentially abusing civil liberties when staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency gained access to the agency’s databases — and then shortly thereafter the Department of Homeland Security obtained access to the same Internal Revenue Service tax data.
"Once confined to separate bureaucracies, data now flows freely through a network of interagency agreements, outsourcing contracts and commercial partnerships built up in recent decades," said Nicole M. Bennett, a Ph.D. Candidate in Geography and Assistant Director at Indiana University's Center for Refugee Studies.
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A battle is raging among conservatives over President Donald Trump’s demand to extend warrantless government surveillance, which former GOP Congressman Justin Amash says is an “unconstitutional” attempt to “spy like crazy.”
It all boils down to a specific part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) known as Section 702, which since 2008 has allowed the government to warrantlessly surveil the communications of non-Americans outside the U.S. While it technically targets foreigners, in doing so, it must sweep American communications at the same time, providing a controversial “backdoor” to surveilling citizens.
Section 702 is set to expire on April 20th, but some Republicans are pushing for an 18-month extension that is “clean” of new restrictions. Trump — who in 2024 told the GOP to “KILL FISA” — is leading the charge on that push, calling it in a post today “an effective tool to keep Americans safe” and essential for the “brilliant Military Operation in Iran.” In the same post, he made assurances that he would never abuse it, saying that he himself has been the target of a FISA investigation, but that it is “extremely important” that it is extended.
Amash doesn’t buy Trump’s promises, posting, “He wants one standard for himself (no spying) and another for everyone else (spy like crazy).” And Amash — who left the Republican Party at the end of Trump’s first term citing a desire to reject “partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us” — is in no way the lone conservative voice against the extension.
Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has long argued for the need to require judicial warrants before monitoring the communications of Americans, declaring “warrants or bust” and that a clean bill “will not pass.” Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has argued that she won’t vote yes unless it is tied to the approval of a controversial voter ID law.
Some Republicans who have previously voted against reauthorizing Section 702 include Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Darrel Issa (R-CA), and Chip Roy (R-TX), and although they have declined to share how they will vote this time, they continue to express concern.
“We keep finding out over and over and over again that the FBI misused and abused its authority against American citizens,” said Biggs. “So I’m really struggling with that.”
While a handful of Democrats support the extension, many say they would need to see serious concessions if they’re going to vote yes. For most, voting yes isn’t a possibility at all.
“Personally, there’s no way I will support a clean FISA extension,” said Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA). “There’s no way I’m going to give the Trump administration this mass surveillance authority.”
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