House Backs Warrantless
The House voted Thursday to extend the governmentâs authority to spy on foreignersâ digital communications  hours after  President Donald Trump  sowed confusion over the bill by sending a tweet that resurrected  his  prior claims that  his  campaign team had been spied upon.
It was unclear whether  Trump  impulsively intended to try to derail the bill  which is supported by  his  administration and congressional allies. Soon after   he  posted another tweet endorsing passage. Between the two tweets   he  phoned House Speaker Paul Ryan to talk about the FISA bill  according to a Republican aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The  Trump  administration and the intelligence community want to preserve the program as-is.
Initially on Thursday  after similar sentiments were voiced by a commentator on âFox and Friends â the presidentâs favorite cable morning show   Trump  wrote: ââHouse votes on controversial FISA ACT today.â This is the act that may have been used  with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier  to so badly surveil and abuse the  Trump  Campaign by the previous administration and others?â
But later   Trump  seemed to reverse course: âWith that being said  I have personally directed the fix to the unmasking process since taking office and todayâs vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!â
 Trumpâs  second tweet referred to claims by some congressional Republicans that Obama administration officials may have improperly âunmaskedâ the names of Americans -- perhaps including some of  Trumpâs  own associates -- whose conversations or names were incidentally picked up in foreign surveillance.
âBy the way  somebody should tell the president. He thinks it is in the bill â she said  referring to  Trump âs initial tweet.
Ryan said at a news conference later Thursday that he speaks with  Trump  almost daily. He said the president has concerns about domestic provisions of the FISA law  which werenât involved in the bill passed Thursday. "He knows that and I think he put out something that clarifies that " Ryan said.
 Trump âs own cybersecurity chief vouched for the law Thursday at an FBI cybersecurity conference in New York.
Obama administration officials have described the requests to unmask some Americansâ identities as routine efforts to understand the travel and actions of foreign officials.  Trump  allies have argued the unmasking incidents validate the presidentâs unsubstantiated claim that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential transition.
The House voted Thursday to extend the governmentâs authority to spy on foreignersâ digital communications  hours after   [TGT] sowed confusion over the bill by sending a tweet that resurrected  his  prior claims that  his  campaign team had been spied upon.
It was unclear whether   [TGT] impulsively intended to try to derail the bill  which is supported by   [TGT]   administration and congressional allies. Soon after   he  posted another tweet endorsing passage. Between the two tweets   he  phoned House Speaker Paul Ryan to talk about the FISA bill  according to a Republican aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The   [TGT] administration and the intelligence community want to preserve the program as-is.
Initially on Thursday  after similar sentiments were voiced by a commentator on âFox and Friends â the presidentâs favorite cable morning show    [TGT]   wrote: ââHouse votes on controversial FISA ACT today.â This is the act that may have been used  with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier  to so badly surveil and abuse the   [TGT] Campaign by the previous administration and others?â
But later    [TGT] seemed to reverse course: âWith that being said  I have personally directed the fix to the unmasking process since taking office and todayâs vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!â
 Trumpâs  second tweet referred to claims by some congressional Republicans that Obama administration officials may have improperly âunmaskedâ the names of Americans -- perhaps including some of  Trumpâs  own associates -- whose conversations or names were incidentally picked up in foreign surveillance.
âBy the way  somebody should tell the president. He thinks it is in the bill â she said  referring to   [TGT]  âs initial tweet.
Ryan said at a news conference later Thursday that he speaks with   [TGT] almost daily. He said the president has concerns about domestic provisions of the FISA law  which werenât involved in the bill passed Thursday. "He knows that and I think he put out something that clarifies that " Ryan said.
  [TGT]  âs own cybersecurity chief vouched for the law Thursday at an FBI cybersecurity conference in New York.
Obama administration officials have described the requests to unmask some Americansâ identities as routine efforts to understand the travel and actions of foreign officials.   [TGT]   allies have argued the unmasking incidents validate the presidentâs unsubstantiated claim that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential transition.