April 17, 2026

The House lurched early Friday to narrowly extend FISA’s explosive Section 702, a warrantless spying power that was set to expire Monday and has long enraged civil libertarians and Trump alike—until now. The brief reprieve keeps alive a tool that lets the government scoop up foreigners’ texts and emails and, critics say, sweep in Americans’ communications too, handing Washington another round of surveillance power just as Trump calls it “extremely important” after once screaming “KILL FISA.” Celeb-backed terror scare claims, hostage rescues and national security warnings collided with fresh alarms from Democrats that the extension gives Trump “more power to surveil Americans,” turning a dead-run program into a live political grenade.

Congress just handed Trump a surveillance tool critics say could reach Americans’ private messages.

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