WASHINGTON—Former President Donald Trump urged lawmakers to not renew an expiring surveillance law that the Biden administration says is critical to protecting national security, creating a new headache for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is also managing a simmering Republican revolt over Ukraine funding.
Trump, the presumptive 2024 presidential nominee and the most powerful figure in the GOP, weighed in ahead of a planned vote to reauthorize the controversial intelligence power in coming days. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a portion of which is due to expire next week, has animated critics on the left and right for years for how it allows the collection of some American communications without a warrant, and lawmakers have been fighting for months over the program.
“KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!” Trump said in an early-morning post on Truth Social.
A party-line procedural vote related to FISA is planned for Wednesday afternoon. If it fails, the FISA legislation can’t come to the floor for an up or down vote. Given Republicans’ thin 218-213 majority, Johnson can afford to lose only a few GOP votes on the rule.
