Trump to meet with Republicans amid deadlocked surveillance fight

by Jordain Carney and Morgan Chalfant - 03/02/20 10:09 PM ET

President Trump will meet Tuesday with Republicans on both sides of a looming surveillance fight as lawmakers have deadlocked about how to handle soon-to-expire intelligence programs.

A White House official told The Hill that the meeting would be “broader” than just senators, also including House members as well as administration officials.

That meeting is expected to include lawmakers who support using the upcoming USA Freedom Act reauthorization to make broader changes to the court associated with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). That group is expected to include Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), as well as Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) among others, several sources told The Hill.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Attorney General William Barr will also attend the meeting. Justice Department spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday night.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and other GOP lawmakers who support extending the USA Freedom provisions without the broader surveillance changes are also expected to attend the White House meeting.

The White House meeting comes a week after Barr pitched Senate Republicans, during a closed-door lunch, on passing a “clean” reauthorization of the three expiring USA Freedom Act provisions that deal with “lone wolf” surveillance, roving wiretaps and a controversial call records program that lets the government request phone metadata.

Barr told Republicans that he would then use his own rulemaking authority to make changes to the FISA court, which critics have argued for years does not have enough transparency or privacy protections for those targeted for government surveillance.

But that’s done little to quash growing support among Republicans for using a bill that reauthorized the USA Freedom Act provisions to go ahead and make broader FISA changes.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the FISA warrant applications regarding Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The watchdog’s findings have raised new concerns about the potential for abuse within the FISA court.

Paul knocked Barr in a tweet on Monday, saying it was “no surprise” that he supported extending the USA Freedom provisions without making broader FISA reforms.

“To protect all Americans from domestic surveillance we absolutely must block the FISA court from spying on Americans!” he said.

Congress has until March 15 to extend the three USA Freedom Act provisions.

So far neither chamber has been able to advance legislation either at the committee level or on the floor.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has backed a clean extension of the programs but he’s yet to unveil a legislative proposal.

Trump has previously spoken over the phone with both Lee and Paul about using the USA Freedom reauthorization legislation to make broader FISA changes. Jordan and Meadows also met last week with Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner on the issue.

—Updated Tuesday at 11:47 a.m.

Tags Donald Trump Jared Kushner Jim Jordan Lindsey Graham Mark Meadows Mike Lee Mitch McConnell Rand Paul