More facts need to come out about how the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court was abused by the FBI and others to "start a coup" against President Donald Trump before a law can be passed to make amendments to it, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise said Thursday.
"[FISA] is an important tool in our national security, but it was heavily abused," the Louisiana Republican said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "There are some dirty cops that broke the law and there has been no accountability yet."
Republicans have been calling for accountability for some time after the court was used to obtain warrants to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, said Scalise.
"The American people deserve to know how this law is important but was abused and that it's not going to happen again," said Scalise.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Wednesday pulled a vote on the FISA bill after Trump threatened to veto it. The legislation would have reauthorized key provisions used to investigate terrorism and espionage in FISA, which expired in March, and added oversight and restrictions to the government's ability to collect Americans' private information.
"Whether you agree or disagree with the FISA court, it was abused by people who are literally trying to start a coup against the president of the United States," said Scalise. "Regardless of who they went after they shouldn't have gone against anybody. This court should not be abused to try to take down a candidate for president that some people over at the FBI disagreed with."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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