![]() FBI searches must have a foreign intelligence purpose or be aimed at finding evidence of a crime. ![]() The program creates a database of intelligence that U.S. That program expires at the end of the year unless it is renewed. It’s clear the FBI can’t be left to police itself.”Īt issue are improper queries of foreign intelligence information collected under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which enables the government to gather the communications of targeted foreigners outside the U.S. “These unlawful searches undermine our core constitutional rights and threaten the bedrock of our democracy. “Today’s disclosures underscore the need for Congress to rein in the FBI’s egregious abuses of this law, including warrantless searches using the names of people who donated to a congressional candidate,” said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. Members of Congress received the order when it was issued last year. ![]() The Office of the Director of the National Intelligence released a redacted version on Friday in what officials said was the interest of transparency. The Department will continue to work with Congress to accommodate its legitimate requests consistent with the law and long-recognized executive branch interests," Kupec said.īut top House and Senate Democrats - Nadler, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein and Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark Warner - on Friday said the proposal for a restricted review was unsatisfactory.The violations were detailed in a secret court order issued last year by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has legal oversight of the U.S. In light of this, Congressman Nadler’s subpoena is premature and unnecessary. The Department of Justice has also made arrangements for Chairman Nadler and other Congressional leaders to review the report with even fewer redactions. “In the interest of transparency, the Attorney General released the Special Counsel’s 'confidential report' with only minimal redactions. In a letter Thursday to Nadler and his Senate counterpart, Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Barr said that he would offer them and other top lawmakers the chance to review a less redacted version of the report next week in a “secure reading room.”ĭepartment of Justice Spokesperson Kerri Kupec called the subpoena "premature and unnecessary" in a statement Friday, given Barr's offer. The report also laid out numerous contacts between members of Trump’s presidential campaign and Russians, but said investigators found Trump’s team had not “conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” The subpoena comes a day after Attorney General William Barr released a redacted version of the report to Congress and to the public, which details Trump's attempts to muddy the special counsel's probe, including efforts to tamper with witnesses, and the decision not to charge him with obstruction of justice in part because there was no underlying crime and many of the attempts were carried out in plain view.ĭownload the NBC News app for full coverage of the Mueller report "I am open to working with the Department to reach a reasonable accommodation for access to these materials, however I cannot accept any proposal which leaves most of Congress in the dark, as they grapple with their duties of legislation, oversight and constitutional accountability," he said Friday.
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