Johnson Fails to Pass FISA Legislation in House

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has had yet another failure in the House, this time likely due to Donald Trump.

Johnson failed to pass Section 702 legislation that would have extended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The act as currently written expires on April 19, and a lot of people are unhappy about how all this played out.

Failed Again

First and foremost, if Johnson wanted this passed, I don’t understand why his leadership team is not doing a better job of whipping up votes.

The general rule of thumb is that if you are going to put legislation on the floor, your WHIP and leader count the votes before the legislation ever gets floored to ensure it will pass.

Yet, with Trump vocally opposing the legislation, Johnson failed to get the temperature of the room.

Prior to the bill being floored, Trump had posted, “KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!”

Johnson responded that he looked forward to discussing the legislation with Trump in the future, adding, “I mean, here’s the thing about FISA — he’s not wrong. Of course, they abused FISA. The whole Carter Page investigation — that whole fiasco was built on false premises, the fake Russian dossier and all the other things.

“But these reforms would actually kill the abuses that allow President Trump’s campaign to be spied on.”

Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, slammed Trump for blocking the legislation, stating, "I think it’s crazy and reckless to not move forward with FISA. It's our principal tool protecting us from terrorist attacks. We're living through a time where those threats have never been higher, so it’s blinding us, it’s blinding our allies.

"I think President Trump's opposition seems to have stemmed from personal pique rather than any logic and reason. The provision that he objects to has nothing to do with the provision that’s on the floor.”

It will be interesting to see if any adjustments are made to the legislation that will get Trump behind it or if Trump will continue to fight on the basis that the FISA legislation played a major role in the investigations that were conducted against him during and after the 2016 election cycle.