By Robert Romano

Reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is once again up for consideration and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has an amendment to fix it — and is urging President Donald Trump to veto the renewal legislation if the Senate doesn’t adopt it.

What makes the Paul amendment unique — and why it must be adopted — as summarized by Lawfareblog.com is that it would “require that electronic surveillance, use of a pen register or trap-and-trace device, production of tangible things, or targeting of U.S. persons for information can be done only pursuant to a warrant issued by a non-FISA federal court and only under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.”

This is the heart of the matter, in that FISA allows the government to spy on U.S. citizens for the purpose of gathering intelligence without needing an underlying crime to investigate. It was on this basis that former National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn had surveillance conducted on him that was transformed into a criminal investigation on the flimsiest of grounds.

No federal judge had issued a warrant to question Flynn, nor was Flynn advised of his rights. And yet, the FBI used surveillance on his Dec. 22, 2016 conversation he had with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the presidential transition, which was then maliciously leaked to the Washington Post on Jan. 12, 2017, as a basis to quiz Flynn about it on Jan. 24, 2017.

The ostensible reason to run the FBI at Flynn was supposed violations of the centuries-old, never-prosecuted Logan Act, but Flynn had already been discounted as a potential Russian agent on Jan. 4, 2017 as a part of its own at the time ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign on false allegations the President and his team had coordinated the Wikileaks hacks of the DNC and John Podesta with Russia.

Turns out none of it was true. As former Special Counsel Robert Mueller stated in his report: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” and “the evidence does not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference.”

So if there was insufficient evidence to support the investigation, how in the world did the surveillance ever get authorized? FISA, that’s how. The Kislyak call surveillance because it came from a stream of intelligence was used to renew the investigation.

As currently written, even with the reform amendments under consideration, the legislation would actually still have authorized a FISA judge to target not only Flynn but also Carter Page on mere suspicion and erroneous intelligence reports, whose applications were fueled by the DNC-Steele dossier falsely accused President Donald Trump, Page and Paul Manafort of being Russian agents.

There are new oversight tools for Congress to potentially rein it in, but on the core issue, there is no eye witness testimony required to support a FISA warrant, leaving the door open for malicious targeting by intelligence agencies like happened with Trump.

If we’re really going to say never again, then Sen. Paul’s amendment must be adopted, or else President Trump should veto the legislation until Congress gets it right. Otherwise, this is going to happen again, Mr. President. 2016 was only the beginning.

Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.

To view online: http://dailytorch.com/2020/05/senate-should-race-to-adopt-sen-rand-paul-amendment-to-ensure-fisa-abuse-never-happens-again-or-else-president-trump-should-veto-it/

Cartoon: All the President’s Men

By A.F. Branco

 

Click here for a higher level resolution version.

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Video: Texas jeweler does not applaud Dr. Fauci's warning

 

To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhrgLWBjC4M

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ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured report from the Hill, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says former Vice President Joe Biden has been caught “red-handed” in the spying and targeting of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn:

 

Paul says Biden 'caught red-handed' eavesdropping on Flynn

By Alexander Bolton

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday said that former Vice President Joe Biden had been "caught red-handed” eavesdropping on former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn after it was revealed the National Security Agency received a request in Biden's name to unmask Flynn’s identity in a classified transcript.

Paul accused Biden of an “abuse of power” by requesting the authority to know the identity of the American citizen who was in contact with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak by telephone after President Trump won the 2016 election.

“This was being led by Vice President Biden, if not the president, and we need to get to the bottom of it to make sure it never happens again,” Paul told reporters at a Wednesday press conference.   

“This is Vice President Biden using the spying powers of the United States to go after a political opponent. He’s caught red-handed here. Vice President Biden is caught red-handed eavesdropping on a political opponent’s phone calls. That to me is alarming,” he said.

Flynn resigned in February 2017 after admitting he had not been truthful when he denied discussing U.S. sanctions against Russia before Trump's inauguration.

He was later charged with lying to FBI agents in a criminal case the Department of Justice dropped last week.

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell on Wednesday released a declassified National Security Agency document showing that 39 senior Obama administration officials requested to know the name of the American individual on the intercepted calls with Kislyak.

The document shows Biden or someone on his staff requested to unmask Flynn’s identity on Jan 12, 2017, — eight days before Trump took his oath of office as president. 

“It looks like each of these administration officials actually individually requested to listen to this conversation,” Paul said. “These rumors have been going around for years that President Obama’s administration was abusing this power of unmasking and this sounds like they were abusing it to go after a political opponent, which I think is a very serious offense and should be investigated.” 

Paul on Twitter called for the Senate to immediately hold hearings on the issue and call Biden, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan to testify. 

Clapper’s, Comey’s and Brennan’s names were on the list of Obama administration officials who requested to review information related to Flynn’s calls with Kislyak.

Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Biden’s campaign, on Wednesday tweeted a story from May 2018 in which one Republican at the center of calls to investigate Biden, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), identified Biden as Trump’s biggest threat in 2020.

Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan, said Wednesday there’s nothing improper about asking to know the name of a U.S. citizen on a classified intelligence report as long as the official requesting the information has proper clearance and a justification.

To view online: https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/497687-paul-claims-biden-caught-red-handed-eavesdropping-on-flynn

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