House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) has revealed why he chose to defy former president Donald Trump and several GOP lawmakers.
Trump and several GOP lawmakers, including Reps. Rep. John Rose (R-TN) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL), had implored Johnson not to bring a bill that reauthorizes Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to the House floor.
The former president, in a Truth Social post— called on House Republicans to end the FISA because it was used to spy on his 2016 campaign. Some lawmakers also urged Johnson to amend the bill and bar intelligence and law enforcement agencies from purchasing Americans’ private information through third-party data brokers.
Johnson, however, brought the bill before the House, ignoring the concerns of the former president and his GOP colleagues.
BREAKING: AG Garland was calling individual House members and telling them to vote against the Biggs Amendment to FISA
The head of the Biden DOJ was sending a warning
Are you paying attention yet?
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) April 12, 2024
The speaker, who was formally against FISA, said he changed his mind after becoming speaker of the House and receiving classified briefings on Section 702.
Shame on Republicans who publicly rail against the “weaponization of government,” then quietly vote to reauthorize FISA 702 which enables the weaponization of government. Pathetically, they did it on a Friday afternoon to bury it in the news cycle. Mark my words: they’ll do the…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) April 12, 2024
“When I was a member of Judiciary I saw the misuses of the FBI, the terrible misuses over and over and over… and then when I became Speaker, I went to the SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) and got the confidential briefing on sort of the other perspective on that to understand the necessity of section 702 of FISA and how important it is for national security,” Johnson said. “And it gave me a different perspective. That’s part of the process, you have to be fully informed.”
Speaker Mike Johnson elaborates on his FISA flip flop from when he was a rank and file member of the House, explaining that after receiving classified briefings he has a “different perspective.” pic.twitter.com/mrLj9ouEji
— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotcnn) April 10, 2024
Johnson’s explanation did not sit well with Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who told Breitbart News that Johnson’s change of heart is a “prime example” of the “D.C. cartel.”
NEW: 86 Republicans just voted against @RepAndyBiggsAZ’s amendment to require a warrant to spy on Americans under FISA causing it to fail.
Here are the names: pic.twitter.com/6mAoJfnlac
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 12, 2024
“I think you get swept up in the D.C. cartel,” Briggs said. “I think they come and tell you that, that blood would be on your hands. And, so the cartel tries to intimidate, put fear into people. And, so some people forget why they were taking the original position.”
Trump criticizes FISA with Mike Johnson in tow
“They spied on my campaign, you do know that, right?”pic.twitter.com/itIj34YQgv
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) April 12, 2024
Fisa is a highly controversial surveillance law that was meant to target U.S. foreign adversaries. However, the FBI has used the law to target Americans, including leading up to the 2016 election, where it was used to spy on Trump’s campaign.
