Democrat lawmaker fumes over revelations FBI spied on nearly 20,000 campaign donors | Just The News
By: Ben Whedon (Just The News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Revelations that the FBI improperly used a foreign surveillance tool to spy on nearly 20,000 campaign donors have prompted outrage from a key Democratic lawmaker as Congress mulls whether to renew the program or let it expire.
During a Tuesday hearing, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin excoriated the bureau for its improper use of a pivotal surveillance tool, saying "[s]ince the last reauthorization of Section 702, many violations of the constitutional, statutory, and court-imposed restrictions on 702 have come to light," according to the Epoch Times.
"These searches have affected all manner of Americans, such as individuals listed in police homicide reports, including victims, next of kin, and witnesses," he continued. "One hundred thirty-three people were [queried] during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest when, as the Justice Department itself concluded, quote, 'There was no specific factual basis to think the searches would turn up the foreign intelligence.'"
A recent report from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court revealed that Section 702 had also been used against protesters and in connection with domestic drug and gang violence related incidents.
The FBI, and the intelligence community as a whole, has authority to gather information related to foreign intelligence under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), though that power is limited to surveilling "[n]on-U.S. persons, [l]ocated abroad, [w]ho are expected to possess, receive, or communicate foreign intelligence information," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence states.
Reports emerged in May, however, that the bureau had improperly accessed the Section 702 intelligence database 278,000 times. Of those, roughly 19,000 queries saw campaign donors as the subject, of which only eight were eligible for such an inquiry under Section 702 guidelines.
The program is set to expire at the end of the year unless lawmakers renew it, though increasing bipartisan skepticism of Section 702 leaves its ultimate fate in doubt.
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So now suddenly it's wrong to use FISA courts to get warrants for surveillance of American citizens.
But....the Dems were only trying to protect our democracy and national security, or so they say.
Is this a case of improper warrants or accessing the database without warrants?
Maybe, but it doesn't look any warrants were involved. Just more assholes taking shortcuts again. And if this is accurate (any time these Congressional clowns are involved I'm dubious at best) why isn't Durban calling for those who accessed the database without a warrant to be disciplined and/or fired? Just shaking fingers at them in committee isn't doing any good and most people don't even care.
The idiots will rail against the program for a few months and still renew it.
The article really doesn't specifically say. I imagine that it was improperly used for both situations.
Yeah... You did though which what why I was asking. I thought maybe I missed something.
The real questions are will Congress renew the program and if they don't where will this database go?
Yeah, it's a dog and pony show for sure. The only excoriating going on is behind closed doors, and not for abusing power...but for getting sloppy in said abuse, forcing the public dog and pony show.
I know what I said. It's no secret the FISA court was lied to and the database utilized illegally. And nobody was held accountable. Because nobody was held accountable, other's may have thought it was a "free for all".
I imagine it would stay tucked away in the intel community for possible future use.