Surveillance

Trump Says He's Willing To 'Risk' Your Rights for His Surveillance Powers

The president once said he wanted to kill warrantless electronic spying. So much for that.

Eric Boehm | 4.15.2026 4:55 PM

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(Illustration: Vandana Jain/Frédéric Legrand/Ivan Kmit/Dreamstime)

As he was running for another term in the White House in 2024, President Donald Trump made it clear that he was not a fan of the government's electronic spying powers contained within the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

"KILL FISA," he wrote in an all-caps message on Truth Social. "IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS."

It's been two years and five days since Trump wrote that, but it might as well have been another lifetime. On Wednesday, Trump again took to Truth Social as Congress was debating a possible extension to Section 702 of FISA, which allows intelligence services to scoop up electronic communications between Americans and individuals overseas.

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