Tag: republicans

The Surveillance Accountability Act Demands Warrants for Data

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) have introduced the Surveillance Accountability Act, a bill that feels like someone took the Fourth Amendment and actually meant it.

The legislation aims “to ensure that all searches that significantly impinge on the privacy or security of a person require a warrant based on probable cause” and to create “a right of action for violations of Fourth Amendment rights.” That covers the kinds of searches federal agencies currently conduct without judicial oversight: pulling your financial records from banks, requesting your browsing history from ISPs, buying your location data from brokers, and harvesting your biometric information from surveillance cameras.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

The bill lands in the middle of a brutal Congressional fight over FISA Section 702, the surveillance authority that currently lets the FBI search Americans’ communications.

The new legislation goes much further than the various reform bills circulating around that debate. Where the SAFE Act and the Government Surveillance Reform Act target specific loopholes in FISA, the Surveillance Accountability Act tries to close all of them at once by rewriting the baseline rule: if the government wants your data, it needs a judge’s permission.

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Prediction Market Suspends and Fines Two Democrats and One GOP Candidate Over Insider Trading

These political candidates got caught red-handed.

Prediction market Kalshi announced in a press release that two Democrat candidates and one Republican candidate have been suspended and fined after engaging in insider trading on the platform.

According to the press release, the political candidates placed prediction trades on the outcomes of their own elections.

NBC News reported that Mark Moran, a Democrat running for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia, Matt Klein, a Democrat running for Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, and Republican Ezekiel Enriquez, who previously ran in the Republican primary for Texas’ 21st Congressional District, have all been fined and suspended by Kalshi.

Per NBC News:

Prediction market Kalshi said Wednesday that it had fined and suspended three political candidates for trading on their own races during primary campaigns.

“Just like in traditional financial markets, bad actors will try to cheat,” Kalshi said in a statement. “These three cases are an example of how developing proactive engineering solutions can help identify illicit trading activity.”

Kalshi described the actions taken by the politicians as “political insider trading.”

The fines ranged from $539 to more than $6,200, while the suspensions from Kalshi are set to last five years.

The candidates include Matt Klein, who is running in the Democratic primary for Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District; Ezekiel Enriquez, who ran in the Republican primary for Texas’ 21st Congressional District; and Mark Moran, who is running in the Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia.

Previously, Kalshi did not fine or suspend candidates betting on their own campaigns, but after Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, introduced the “Prediction Markets are Gambling Act,” the company reversed course.

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Sen. Rick Scott introduces legislation to repudiate 2019 Trump impeachment: ‘Lacks legitimacy’

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., on Monday became the first member of Congress to introduce legislation to repudiate the 2019 Democrat-led House vote to impeach Donald Trump, declaring evidence newly declassified by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard showed the vote to remove the president more than six years ago “lacks legitimacy.”

Scott’s move came after Just the News reported a week ago that documents declassified by Gabbard showed Congress and Trump’s legal team were kept from evidence showing the whistleblower whose allegations about Ukraine policy prompted the impeachment had the “potential for bias,” misled investigators in his first report and only had hearsay evidence to back up his allegations.

Scott’s resolution asks the Senate to consider “condemning the handling of the 2019 Ukraine Whistleblower Complaint, calling for the Department of Justice to initiate an investigation and possible prosecution of the matter, and declaring the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump by the House of Representatives lacks legitimacy.”

The resolution also stated that the House vote to impeach Trump in December 2019 “was predicated on a concealed and deficient complaint, lacks legitimacy and the facts and circumstances upon which Articles of Impeachment were based neither met the burden of proving that President Trump committed ‘High Crimes and Misdemeanors’ nor established that President Trump engaged in ‘insurrection of rebellion against the United States.'”

You can read the full resolution here.

MDM26804.pdf

In an interview with the John Solomon Reports podcast, Scott said he considered the 2019 impeachment trial of Trump to be “complete BS” but that the new evidence showed the president, his legal team and the public were all denied a fair proceeding because exculpatory evidence that undercut his chief accuser was withheld.

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This Isn’t Just Trump’s War on Iran. Both Parties Paved the Way for Disaster.

nlike the invasion of Iraq, which received the support of a sizable minority of congressional Democrats, Donald Trump’s war on Iran has received near-universal criticism. Still, the party has focused primarily on process-style critiques — such as the legality of declaring the war under the Constitution and the war’s economic impact — rather than the humanitarian consequences and flagrant violations of international law.

That should not come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the U.S. bipartisan consensus on Iran: For over 20 years, a number of prominent Democratic leaders — and in some cases, large majorities of congressional Democrats overall — have helped paved the groundwork for Trump’s war by issuing exaggerated and alarmist statements about Iran’s supposed danger to the region, threatening the use of military force, and undermining diplomatic initiatives, sometimes even criticizing Republicans from the right.

In 2024, the Democratic Party platform criticized “Trump’s fecklessness and weakness in the face of Iranian aggression during his presidency” by not responding militarily to attacks by Iran and groups in Iraq and elsewhere that share Iran’s strategic objectives. The platform cited four separate incidents that took place under his first administration, failing to acknowledge that each was a direct result of Trump’s aggressive policies against Iran, including the assassination of Qassim Suleimani, a top Iranian general.

By contrast, the party’s platform praised President Joe Biden for having “authorized precision airstrikes on key Iranian-linked targets,” which it claimed would “deter further aggression by Iran.” It praised “America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel and our unrivaled ability to leverage growing regional integration among U.S. partners to counter Iranian aggression.” Though eager to stress military means to counter Iran, the platform failed to directly call for a return to the Iran nuclear deal under the Obama administration, which considerably reduced regional tensions — a deal that Biden campaigned on reinstating but failed to do.

The month after the release of the party platform, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris attacked Trump in a presidential debate, declaring that her administration “will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel.”

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House GOP passes short-term FISA deal amid Republican infighting

The House unanimously passed a short-term extension of the nation’s spy powers early Friday morning after GOP rebels dramatically rejected a late-night, last-minute deal to extend the measure for five years. 

Instead, the bill pushes the expiration of the powers to April 30 from April 20, while adding some additional reforms and language intended to woo the holdouts.

The move buys time for leaders to figure out how to address Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after the deal crumbled, while avoiding a lapse in the authorization that expires on April 20. The Senate, which gavels back in at 10 a.m. EDT Friday morning, must still pass the stopgap and get it to President Trump’s desk by the Monday deadline.

In a 200-220 vote at about 1:15 a.m. Friday morning, 12 Republicans voted with almost all Democrats against accepting the deal, text of which was revealed just hours before the vote, after two days of meetings and delays.

Republican opposition to the amendment came not only from right-wing members who pushed for more substantial reforms and who had spent hours negotiating the package with leadership, but also from some House Intelligence Committee members who had pushed for a straight reauthorization of the program.

Soon after, a procedural vote to advance a clean, 18-month reauthorization of program racked up enough votes to fail moments later, but GOP leaders held the vote open as they hashed out a fallback option.

That procedural vote, which members of the House Freedom Caucus had long objected to, officially failed in a 197-228 vote, with 20 Republicans voting against it and four Democrats — Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Jared Golden (Maine), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), and Tom Suozzi (N.Y.) — casting highly unusual votes to vote in favor of the rule, which is normally a test of party strength.

The House then brought up new legislation to extend the FISA authorization from April 20 to April 30, passing it by unanimous consent just after 2 a.m. and adjourning the House until Monday — canceling a day of previously-scheduled votes on Friday.

“We were very close tonight,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said walking off the floor in the wee hours of Friday morning. “There’s some nuances with the language and some questions that need to be answered, and we’ll get it done. The extension allows us the time to do that.”

“FISA is a critical national security tool. It’s also a very complicated piece of legislation, and what we’re trying to do is thread the needle of ensuring that we have this essential tool to keep Americans safe but also safeguard our constitutional rights, and making sure that the abuses of FISA in the past are no longer possible,” Johnson said.

It was a remarkable sequence of events even by the standards of the super-slim House majority that has given Republican leaders consistent headaches in advancing must-pass legislation.

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House Votes to Advance Bill PROTECTING Haitian Migrants — Six Republicans Vote “Yes”

Congress is now trying to pass legislation that would protect hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants from deportation.

Today, the House of Representatives advanced a bill that would re-instate temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian migrants for three more years.

The final vote was 219-209, with six Republicans siding with Democrats to advance the bill.

Those six were:

  • Maria Elvira Salazar – Florida
  • Don Bacon – Nebraska
  • Brian Fitzpatrick – Pennsylvania
  • Carlos Gimenez – Florida
  • Mike Lawler – New York
  • Nicole Malliotakis – New York

Here are the full details:

BREAKING: Six House Republicans just joined Democrats to PROTECT HAITIAN MIGRANTS, 219-209

Are you KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!?

This would give Haitians temporary protected status — a category in which one of them KlLLED that woman in Florida at a gas station

Per Tim Burchett: “A Democrat motion to provide for consideration that legal immigrants status to Haitians.”

“It provides legal immigrants status to Haitians who are already in the United States. So you have illegal Haitians here and we’re going to allow them to stay. And [several] Republicans, look them up, who they were.”

“You can pretty much guess, but go ahead and look them up. Anyway, unbelievable. This is one time I’m glad for an inaction in the Senate.”

“That’s what we’ve become. We gotta, we gotta clean this mess up up here.”

REPUBLICAN “YEAs”:
– Salazar
– Bacon
– Fitzpatrick
– Gimenez
– Lawler
– Malliotakis

It’s not final passage, but this is the motion moving forward.

Under President Trump’s orders, the Department of Homeland Security has been ending TPS for many groups of migrants — including those from Venezuela and Afghanistan.

Back in June, it was announced that TPS would also be canceled for Haitians. However, rogue judges have blocked that order from going into effect.

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‘Rapists should be hung’ – US lawmaker

A Republican member of US House of Representatives has called for rapists to be hanged, but insisted he wasn’t talking about fellow Congressmen who resigned over allegations of sexual misconduct.

Democrat Eric Swalwell and Republican Tony Gonzalez announced on Monday they will step down from Congress following reported accusations by former staffers.

“Rapists should be hung, period. No questions,” Andy Ogles told influencer Benny Johnson when asked about the allegations against Swalwell, insisting, however, that he wasn’t talking about the California Democrat.

“I don’t want the Secret Service to come, I’m not talking about Eric Swalwell, I’m not threatening a member of Congress,” he added.

Last week, media reports detailed accusations of sexual assault by a former aide against Swalwell and cited three women who accused the lawmaker of separate instances of sexual misconduct. Swalwell, first elected to Congress in 2013, denied the allegations, claiming they were part of an effort to derail his campaign.

“They are absolutely false. They did not happen,” Swalwell said in a video on X on Friday, posting later that he was “deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.”

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Rep. Lauren Boebert Demands Answers for ‘Deeply Troubling Abuse of Power’ by NSA Analysts

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on Monday wrote to National Security Agency (NSA) Director Joshua Rudd about multiple instances of “deeply troubling abuses of power” by NSA analysts who have misused Section 702 of FISA to search private communications, including a person met through a dating service and a potential tenant.

“I write to demand answers about a deeply troubling abuse of power by a National Security Agency analyst who exploited one of our nation’s most sensitive surveillance authorities to spy on Americans met through an online dating service,” Boebert wrote to the NSA.

She recounted an incident that was disclosed by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight (PCOAB)’s September 2023 report that “represents exactly the kind of government overreach that erodes the trust of the American people in their intelligence community.”

“As a Member of Congress who takes both national security and the constitutional rights of every American seriously, I find it unacceptable that nearly three years after this abuse was disclosed, the public has received no accounting of what consequences, if any, were imposed on the individuals responsible,” she added.

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Embattled Rep Tony Gonzales announces plans to resign amid sexual misconduct allegations

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, abruptly announced his decision to resign from Congress Monday evening amid calls for him to step aside after admitting to sexual misconduct with a staffer earlier this year.

The embattled lawmaker is facing an anticipated expulsion vote that could occur as early as this week. 

“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office,” Gonzales wrote on social media. “It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas.”

It is currently unclear when Gonzales will formally resign. A spokesperson for Gonzales did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gonzales has come under bipartisan pressure to immediately step aside or face expulsion following his acknowledgment of an affair with his former staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles, who later died by setting herself on fire.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., has vowed to move forward with her expulsion resolution if Gonzales does not quickly resign.

“He has until 2PM tomorrow—when we will file his expulsion. He better write that resignation “effective immediately,” Leger Fernandez wrote on social media.

He first admitted to an affair with Santos-Aviles during a radio interview in March after repeatedly denying the existence of a sexual relationship.

“I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions,” Gonzales told conservative radio host Joe Pags during the interview. “Since then, I’ve reconciled with my wife, Angel. I’ve asked God to forgive me, which he has, and my faith is as strong as ever.” 

Gonzales, who is married and has six children, has not acknowledged a second accusation of sexual misconduct with a former aide reported by The San Antonio-Express News.

Lawmakers are prohibited from engaging in sexual relationships with staffers, per House rules. 

His announcement came just an hour after Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said he planned to resign from the lower chamber amid serious allegations of sexual misconduct and rape. The California Democrat has not specified the particular day he plans to leave office.

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Maria Salazar Suggests Republicans Pass ‘DIGNIDAD’ Amnesty for Illegal Aliens to Prove They Are Not Racist

Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) says Republicans ought to pass her “DIGNIDAD Act,” a broad amnesty scheme allowing millions of illegal aliens to remain in the United States while hugely expanding legal immigration levels, to prove to Democrats that they are not racist.

“It’s impossible if we, the Republicans, put together a bill like this one on the floor, for any Democrat with Hispanics, supposedly you know ‘Hispanics belong to the Democrats.’ No, not anymore, because right now we’re going to be demonstrating to the Dems that we are not such a bunch of racists, that we are giving them dignity, not citizenship,” Salazar told Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade on his radio show.

“This is the future of the Republican Party. Everyone knows that the coalition … we’re a part of the coalition that put Trump into the White House,” Salazar continued. “He says it himself. ‘I won the seven swing states, and four them, the Hispanics put me over the top and I won the popular vote.’ He’s the guy, that’s why I’m saying, ‘Hey, Mr. President, you have to sign this bill.’”

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