Senate Republicans vented their frustration after former President Trump helped derail a compromise House bill to extend Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authority, sending lawmakers scrambling to find a Plan B to keep the nation’s intelligence agencies from losing their ability to spy on adversaries and terrorists.

Republican senators are warning that the nation’s spy program is about to go “dark” and that much of the intelligence that goes into President Biden’s daily briefing could be lost, putting the nation at risk for surprise attacks.

“I’m very disappointed in President Trump’s assessment of FISA. It is an essential tool. It may need to be amended but it is absolutely essential as everyone in the intelligence community will tell you,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!” Trump fumed on his social media platform, Truth Social.

  • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Ah, Susan Collins is concerned again?!?

    Eat a bag of dicks, Susan. You helped make this mess.

    • Zombiepirate@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      “I believe that the president has learned from this case,” Collins said in an exclusive interview with “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell on Tuesday, before a speech on the Senate floor about her decision. “The president has been impeached. That’s a pretty big lesson.”

      Despite her support for more witnesses, Collins said she would vote to acquit Mr. Trump of the charges, arguing that his actions don’t amount to high crimes and misdemeanors.

      Collins is a complicit steamy pile of shit.

      • root_beer@midwest.social
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        7 months ago

        Was this after the first impeachment or the second? I forget. If it was after the second, so help me,

        • Zombiepirate@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          No, that was the first time.

          To her credit she voted to convict the second time. But she has always taken safe dissent votes, so it’s hard to give her that much credit. Especially since she didn’t take a stand the previous time he got caught trying to cheat in the election.

          • root_beer@midwest.social
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            7 months ago

            Ah, yeah, I remember now, thanks for jogging my memory. She’s a coward and she’ll continue to shill for him until she gets permission to do otherwise when it’s politically expedient for her not to do so.

  • dhork@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Looks like all that foreign investment into Trump’s and Kushner’s businesses is paying off…

  • wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
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    7 months ago

    Broken clock is right twice a day I guess. FISA courts are a fucking sham. 'member when they were going after the guild of librarians with warrants that prevents the accused from talking to a lawyer? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

    • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      This is one of those situations where everybody sucks, and there’s no good side of the fight.

      Trump wants to kill any foreign surveillance, because he was caught creceiving orders from foreign investors in his campaign. FISA is inherently flawed and should be reformed or replaced, but the American people do have an interest in monitoring foreign communications with our political leaders.

      • wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        Thing is FISA’s interests in political representation is a very small part of their actual mandate. Which should surprise no one since it was founded by Nixon. The brunt of it is targeted at regular people.

        For example the vast dragnet surveillance of the NSA were approved under FISA. We know such surveillance is used regularly against social movements like occupy Wall Street, WTC protests, most likely BLM, etc.

        https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/FISA-pdf-1.pdf

      • wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        For completely the wrong reasons, of course.

        That tends to be true in representative democracy as a whole, so it’s not that surprising either ;)

  • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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    7 months ago

    I, for one, am fine with Republicans fighting against themselves.

    Though I’d prefer if the rest of the country (and neighbouring countries) weren’t caught in the crossfire.

    • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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      7 months ago

      This isn’t just used overseas. This gives them the authority to wiretap Americans who are communicating with anyone outside the country and store all their communications indefinitely.

  • snooggums@midwest.social
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    7 months ago

    Maybe they should make aure that the handful of Republicans in the Senate and House vote for it then. It would only take about a dozen votes between the Senate and House to pass.