President Trump vowed Wednesday to veto legislation extending three Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act provisions, saying the law was abused to monitor members of his 2016 campaign.
“If the FISA Bill is passed tonight on the House floor, I will quickly VETO it,” he wrote on Twitter. “Our Country has just suffered through the greatest political crime in its history. The massive abuse of FISA was a big part of it!”
Mr. Trump’s warning came while the House was voting on whether to extend the provisions until December 2023.
It is the first time the president has directly said he would veto the legislation. Mr. Trump hinted in a late Tuesday tweet that he would oppose the bill, but did not explicitly threaten a veto.
FISA is a 1970s era law to rein in government surveillance. It allows the government to spy on suspected spies and terrorists, both foreign and domestic.
Privacy hawks have long railed against the program, saying it is too invasive.
Mr. Trump has been among those assailing FISA because the FBI used some of its provisions to spy on Trump campaign aide Carter Page in 2016.
The bureau told the FISA Court that they suspected Mr. Page was a Russian spy, but no criminal charges were ever brought and ex-special counsel Robert Mueller could find no evidence he committed wrongdoing.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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