If the political spying did not violate FISA, then we need FISA reform now.
April 10, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to Attorney General William Barr’s acknowledgement that “spying did occur” in 2016 against the Trump campaign:
“The Attorney General’s acknowledgement that spying occurred in 2016 against the Trump campaign is a significant step in the right direction to cleaning up the abuse of power that occurred in the Russia collusion hoax during the Obama administration. Spying on the opposition party in an election year, based on fabricated allegations of foreign espionage, is one of the most profound attacks on the Constitution and civil liberties in our history. FISA was set up to stop political weaponization of intelligence.
“While we are heartened that Attorney General Barr is acknowledging what has been clear for a long time, that spying did occur in 2016 against the Trump campaign and continued into the transition and then administration, with all due respect to the Attorney General, the question here is not whether there was unauthorized surveillance. The trouble here is that the surveillance was authorized despite the fact that it lacked credible and verified allegations. At the end of the day, there was no conspiracy or coordination with Russia by Trump, his campaign or any Americans. It was a lie.
“Moreover, Trump campaign, transition and administration officials were unmasked by former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, former UN Ambassador Samantha Powers and others. Individuals were prosecuted for unrelated process crimes that came about because of this unnecessary investigation.
“The protections set up by Congress in the late 1970s after the Church Committee’s findings of political spying have failed miserably to protect civil liberties today when confronted by a determined, politically weaponized intelligence community. If no rules were violated, then it is clear that the FISA law itself that must be reformed to prevent this from ever happening again.”
Attachments:
“We need a new Church Committee to expose who in the Obama administration was behind the Russia collusion hoax,” By Robert Romano, March 25, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/03/we-need-a-new-church-committee-to-expose-who-in-the-obama-administration-was-behind-the-russia-collusion-hoax/
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview.
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