Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz spent Tuesday poking fun at House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff by filing the Presidential Appointment of FISA Court Judges Act, legislation Schiff originally introduced in 2013.
Schiff’s bill would have amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and granted the president authority to handpick all 11 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges.
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“Cash and a political party should never be convertible to a warrant to spy on American citizens,” Gaetz stated in a Tuesday speech on the House floor. “Because I expect Republicans and Democrats to both be in power at some point in the future, we should be looking for bipartisan solutions to revise the FISA process so that what happened to President Trump never happens to another American president.”
“So I went looking for solutions,” the Florida Republican continued. “Schiff wanted to give the president of the United States the power to appoint FISA judges. He argued that judges would then be more ideologically diverse. They’d come from different areas of the United States.”
Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, answers brief questions from the media while boarding an elevator at the U.S. Capitol February 5, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“I’d encourage the gentleman from California to join me as a co-sponsor so that we can find bipartisan solutions to improve the FISA process,” Gaetz added, barely hiding a smile. “If it was good enough to give President Obama these powers, it’s good enough to give President Trump these powers.”
Schiff’s bill never made it out of committee.
Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper! Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2018