WASHINGTON D.C. – In the wake of reports that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had been abused during the Obama administration, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs announced the introduction of a bill that would dismantle it.
The Fourth Amendment Restoration Act introduced by Biggs fully repeals the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), prohibits warrantless surveillance of American citizens, and holds accountable any federal officials who violate the law.
Last year, a Department of Justice Inspector General report revealed omissions, errors, and lies in a FISA application targeting Trump campaign advisor Carter Page. A subsequent audit from the Inspector General released in March demonstrated that the Page incident was not a one-off, but rather indicative of systemic deficiencies. The second audit reviewed 25 FISA applications and found “apparent errors or inadequately supported facts” in every single case file examined.
“Under the Obama administration, the FISA system was weaponized against a political opponent in a brazen attempt to undermine the will of the American people,” said Biggs. “But for President Trump’s historic victory in 2016, these abuses, and all the corruption at the highest levels of our Justice and Intelligence agencies, might never have been uncovered. What happened to President Trump and members of his campaign team could happen to any American, regardless of their political persuasion.”
Even Benjamin Wittes, the “good friend” James Comey leaked contents of his memos documenting interactions with the President Trump, noted that “facts presented in a lot of FISA applications are not reliably accurate.”
Wittes concluded, “If the court cannot rely on the facts in the average FISA application, that is a very big problem—a problem that goes to the heart of whether FISA is a workable compromise between the needs of the intelligence world and the civil liberties demands of privacy and accountable government.”
Biggs believes “government cannot be trusted with secret spying powers that fundamentally deprive American citizens of their Fourth Amendment rights.”
“We cannot allow a rogue administration to repeat the gross constitutional violations of 2016.” Biggs concluded, “We need a new start and complete protections of the Fourth Amendment.”