Washington — Democrats have accused President Trump of throwing a grenade into negotiations to renew a key spy authority — known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — set to expire Friday.
Members of Congress in both parties have been critical of Mr. Trump’s decision to appoint housing regulator Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. Pulte, who also leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, lacks experience in national security and intelligence matters.
As Democrats warned that they’d withhold their support for reauthorizing Section 702 as long as Pulte remains in the role overseeing the nation’s intelligence agencies and some Republicans opposed an extension for various other reasons, House Speaker Mike Johnson was meeting with President Trump on Tuesday about the law’s renewal.
“One of the reasons that the speaker’s not here right now is that he’s over at the White House working with the president to finalize this agreement on FISA,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, said Tuesday at House GOP leaders’ weekly news conference.
A source familiar with the meeting said Johnson plans to discuss Pulte with Mr. Trump.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, told reporters Tuesday morning that he thinks the administration is “weighing seriously making a long-term pick” for the post as GOP leaders work to break the deadlock on FISA reauthorization — adding that he hopes it comes sooner, rather than later. And Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said Tuesday that the White House has been consistent in saying that Pulte won’t be the full-time nominee, and GOP leaders have encouraged the president to name a permanent nominee who would go through the confirmation process.
GOP leaders will need votes from Democrats in both chambers for passage.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said Monday that there were already challenges in renewing the law, which allows the U.S. government to collect the communications of noncitizens abroad without a warrant, even before Mr. Trump announced his pick to replace outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
“The negotiations prior to Trump’s announcement with respect to Bill Pulte were already in a very sensitive place. And then Donald Trump, as he often does, tosses a hand grenade into those sensitive negotiations by elevating Bill Pulte as a director of national intelligence,” Jeffries said.
He called for the appointment to be “reversed immediately” and added that there is no scenario in which he would support an extension of the surveillance authority with Pulte still in place.
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer railed against the pick for not just for his lack of national security experience, but also his “record of abusing his office to attack Trump’s political enemies.” The New York Democrat said “the timing of this announcement could not be worse.”
“This announcement and its timing clearly make passing an extension of FISA much harder,” Schumer said.
In a letter over the weekend to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, the Republican chairmen of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee accused their Democratic counterparts of “walking away” from an agreement to extend Section 702 for three years. Senate Democrats voted against moving forward with a FISA extension last week, joined by seven Republicans.
“We believe this compromise would’ve received nearly seventy votes in the Senate and had a promising path in the House of Representatives,” Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Chuck Grassley of Iowa wrote.
They asked Rubio to “identify all intelligence targets on which the United States may lose valuable intelligence information,” and “determine alternative lawful and constitutional intelligence-collection methods by which the United States could continue collecting intelligence on these individuals.” They also called on the White House, “if necessary,” to draft an executive order “to remedy the gap left by the lapse.”
Rubio wrote in response that allowing the surveillance authority to lapse would have “dire impacts” on national security. He urged Democrats to put “partisan politics” aside “before it is too late.”
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Sunday that it will be a “very uphill path to convince Democrats” and said Mr. Trump’s decision was “self-inflicted harm.”
“Why would he throw a live hand grenade with this kind of controversial pick 10 days before its renewal date?” Warner said, questioning whether Mr. Trump wants the law to be reauthorized.
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who urged his colleagues to support prior extensions, said Monday that the Senate compromise could have secured more Democratic support than the three-year extension the House passed in April. The House-passed extension, which had 42 Democrats voting in favor, stalled in the Senate over the inclusion of an unrelated measure that prevented the Federal Reserve from creating a central bank digital currency.
“It’s a huge lost opportunity because the Senate bill had actually stronger safeguards than the House bill did,” Himes said, adding that Pulte’s appointment reduces potential Democratic votes in the House down to “single digits at best.”
Himes said he would likely vote against an extension if Pulte remains as acting director.
“Bill Pulte’s sole objective here in Washington is to promote the president’s political interests,” Himes said. “The right thing to do is for the White House to say tonight that Bill Pulte will not be DNI, and we pass 702 probably with more Democrats and a stronger bipartisan vote.”
Pulte has issued several criminal referrals to the Justice Department alleging mortgage fraud by a number of Mr. Trump’s political foes, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who at times has been at odds with Mr. Trump, also said the president should reverse course.
Responding to Bacon’s request, Johnson told reporters Monday, “I don’t think that’s a necessary requirement of passing FISA.”
“Anybody that equates those two things is just playing with a dangerous situation,” Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Monday.
A handful of Senate Republicans have also expressed opposition to Pulte’s intelligence role over his lack of experience, along with his efforts to launch probes into Mr. Trump’s political enemies. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina referred to Pulte as “the worst form of sycophant” and said he would “hurt the president’s legacy.”
Asked Monday whether Mr. Trump should withdraw Pulte as acting DNI, GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said the president has a choice.
“If he wants to get 702 reauthorization passed, that sounds like the price that they’re going to demand,” said Cornyn, who was recently defeated in his primary by a Trump-backed challenger.
He added that Pulte “has no obvious qualification” for the job.
