A top Republican said the most important part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reform bill being considered by Congress is how it ensures lawmakers have access to documents.
California Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, has long sounded the alarm when the Justice Department refuses to cooperate with congressional document requests for politically sensitive investigations.
He told host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures that with the reforms in the legislation, which is supported by Attorney General William Barr, Republicans “got as much as we possibly could” to ensure accountability if the FISA abuses against a member of President Trump’s 2016 campaign are ever repeated.
“I think most importantly, we as members of Congress on the Intel Committee, we would have access to these FISA transcripts, and all of the underlying documents,” Nunes said.
For years, the congressman said he would resort to doing interviews to draw attention to what he viewed as being a major problem in regards to Congress’s ability to conduct oversight over the Justice Department.
“Well now it’s clear in this law that they’ll have to give these documents up to Congress. So if there is a leak, we would be able to quickly go and do an inspection unlike what we’ve had to deal with over the past three and a half years,” Nunes said.
The USA Freedom Reauthorization Act passed the House by a 278-136 vote last week, bringing together Republicans and Democrats, many of whom wanted stronger privacy protections for U.S. citizens and steps toward solving surveillance issues that arose from an examination of the Russia investigation. The bill has yet to be taken up by the Senate, leaving three FISA authorities, including roving wiretap powers, the business records provision, and the “lone wolf” amendment to sunset on Sunday.
Trump, who has been lobbied by GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah to oppose the deal, has suggested he may veto the bill.
