‘Absolutely no reason to trust you’: Senator grills FBI chief over agency’s warrantless surveillance

 

A key Republican senator said Tuesday that lawmakers cannot trust the FBI on issues related to warrantless surveillance of Americans because the bureau will not detail its reforms or say whether it has punished violators.

Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, ticked off to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray numerous instances of the FBI illegally using against Americans the nation’s chief spying tool, citing findings from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.Mr. Lee asked Mr. Wray at the hearing whether any of the FBI employees who conducted the illegal searches using powers granted under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were terminated or had their security clearances stripped.

6Mr. Wray said he was unaware of the instances Mr. Lee cited, but that they occurred before the bureau installed reforms to rein in abuses of FISA surveillance.

Mr. Lee wasn’t impressed.

“You keep referring to these policies, these new procedures. We haven’t seen that. We’re not even allowed to have access to it,” the Utah Republican noted...more