Trump support for warrantless spy powers leading to FISA flips on both sides of the aisle

The battle to renew the nation’s warrantless spy powers is spawning reversals on both sides of the aisle, as President Trump’s support has pushed both the law’s critics and supporters to flip their previous positions.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows the government to spy on foreigners located abroad. 

Skeptics have long pushed for requiring a warrant before reviewing any information gathered on Americans as they communicated with targets being surveilled overseas.

But the Trump factor is bringing a new dynamic to the battle.

Though he previously called on lawmakers to “KILL FISA” when it was last up for renewal in 2024, Trump’s reversal has pushed some GOP lawmakers who voted against its reauthorization to back an 18-month extension this go-around.

Meanwhile, Democratic support for Section 702 has dwindled as they fear how the Trump administration might abuse the powerful spy tool.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, previously backed Section 702. But this year he sent a letter to colleagues urging them to join him in voting no.

“There were a lot of us who voted for reauthorization with the specification that there be all of these reforms, and there were a whole bunch of reforms put in to make for real safeguards and oversight. And all of that is gone now,” said Raskin, referring to concerns about whether the Trump administration would respect those guardrails.

“They were always opposed to it, and now that they’re in charge of it, they have no problem with it, because they can be using it for their own purposes. So we’re talking about an administration that has been trampling privacy rights and violating people’s civil liberties, and so they simply can’t be trusted with this awesome power.”

On the GOP side, those who plan to back renewal of FISA 702 say they’ve been encouraged by reforms included in the 2024 bill, though many did not vote for them at the time.

That includes shrinking the pool of intelligence officers who can run queries, as well as requiring the approval of a supervisor before looking at any information collected on Americans. Congress also now plays a greater role in reviewing what searches are conducted.

Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) this week was the latest Republican to say he’ll back a clean extension of the law, though in 2024 he voted against renewing it because a warrant requirement was not added.

“We’re satisfied that there’s progress. We certainly want to be able to look at it again in 18 months. And it doesn’t mean that there may not be additional action. It means that in the middle of a war, to change the standard could create confusion. To let it lapse would be unacceptable,” Issa told The Hill on Wednesday.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a longtime face of the warrant requirement fight, said earlier this month he would shift his vote as well, saying he was pleased with the reforms. 

In addition to the 2024 reforms, the intelligence community made a simple tech fix, requiring officers to opt in to searching the Section 702 database, ending a default selection to query it. Searches of Americans have since plummeted. 

Queries of Americans fell from 2.9 million in 2022 to just more than 9,000 in the year after the last renewal of Section 702. Of those searches, 127 were found to not be compliant with FBI guidelines.

But even with what lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called encouraging data, Democrats say Trump’s control over the program is giving them pause.

“There’s a lot of people who are going to switch from yes two years ago to no today. Because even though Donald Trump’s been president for five years, and he has never abused the program — I would know it pretty much in real time if he did — even though that’s true, people don’t trust Donald Trump,” said Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who has called for a renewal of the law.

“And you know that word came up a lot in the classified briefing, there’s a huge trust gap here. So there’s going to be a lot of people switching on the Democratic side from yes to no.”

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) previously voted to back Section 702 in 2024 but said he is considering shifting his vote this year.

“I supported it because I felt very comfortable that the laws’ additional guardrails were safeguarding Americans’ privacy in a sufficiently significant way as to justify the importance of getting this information on an urgent basis. And as a former prosecutor, I know how difficult it can be to get a search warrant, and especially in these cases where there often isn’t even probable cause, but my vote was taken on the expectation that the law would be implemented as written,” Goldman said.

“And we now have an administration that has routinely, repeatedly, regularly and seemingly and intentionally violated numerous laws, undermined the Constitution, attacked our democracy and simply cannot be trusted with the privacy information that is included in the materials gathered and potentially searched. So unless I receive a lot more information about every single search for a U.S. person that has been done by this administration since they came into office, I don’t see how I can possibly support the reauthorization.”

It won’t be smooth sailing on the GOP side either. Despite the notable reversals, many FISA hard-liners say they are undecided and are still pushing for changes like requiring a warrant.

It’s a softer stance than some have taken in the past, with Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), another prominent voice in pushing for a warrant requirement, saying Friday he was still “probing” the issue.

“It’s still a massive problem. I mean, it’s not hard to get a warrant,” he said.

Others are still planning to vote against a clean authorization, including Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who said while there were 56 reforms last year, this year she wants to see 57.

“I want warrants,” she said Wednesday.

Reps. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Michael Cloud (R-Texas) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) all said they still intend to vote against the bill.

A Thursday White House meeting with Freedom Caucus members and other GOP voices concluded with discussions surrounding possible new language for the FISA 702 extension, including to address the warrant issue.

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), who attended the meeting, said he felt more accommodated by the White House during this debate.

“What’s beautiful about this administration is their willingness to engage in meetings like this. In the past, it just wasn’t that way. We were sort of harangued and forced into compliance with whatever the establishment leadership determined what the deal was going to be on whatever the bill was,” he said.

Administration officials have been making the rounds on the Hill in recent weeks, and Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) said members will have to contend with the pressure of a unified front from Trump national security officials who have called for renewal.

“Vote at your own peril,” LaHood said, listing off high-level appointees and Cabinet officials who have backed reauthorization.

“If the president of the United States wants a clean reauthorization with no warrant, tell me your reasons why you would vote against him?”

Section 702 is set to expire April 20, and with a vote on the matter delayed until the week prior, House leadership has little time for negotiating and wrangling.

Democratic opposition will also add to headaches as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) grapples with how to bring the FISA 702 extension to the floor with division in his own party.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Democrats would vote against the rule to bring Section 702’s renewal to the floor, allowing the GOP to lose just two votes if they want to proceed.

And the Congressional Progressive Caucus also voted to have its members oppose Section 702 renewal when it does come to the floor, largely committing its 98 members to voting it down.

“I still think the Republicans are going to have a really hard time passing a rule to get that on the floor,” Himes said, noting that in a recent briefing with national security officials, members on both sides of the aisle raised “all kinds of hell around the idea.”

Trump’s public backing of the measure “will probably be persuasive to some Republicans,” he added, “but it’s also fairly toxic to some Democrats.”

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