Speaker Mike Johnson's flip-flop on reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has drawn angry accusations from a fellow MAGA Republican about being part of a "psyop."
After posting a video showing Johnson explaining his decision to back off his previous opposition to to renewing the provision, Sen. Mike Lee floated a conspiratorial question that seemed to implicate the House speaker in some kind of government plot.
"Does this thing ever strike you as one gigantic, self-licking ice cream cone of a psyop," wrote Lee on Twitter.
Johnson was asked by reporter this week about his flip-flop and he gave a fairly succinct answer.
“When I was a member of Judiciary, I saw all of the abuses of the FBI — there were terrible abuses, over and over and over,” Johnson told a throng of reporters at the Capitol. “And then when I became Speaker, I went to the SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility] and got the confidential briefing from sort of the other perspective on that, to understand the necessity of Section 702 of FISA and how important it is for national security. And it gave me a different perspective."
Lee's accusation against Johnson comes days after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene questioned if Johnson was going against his conservative principles because he was somehow compromised.
She continues to publicly wield a threat to move forward with an effort to oust Johnson from his perch.
Intelligence agencies rely Section 702 to intercept communications of foreigners abroad. But Americans can become caught up in surveillance if they communicate with suspected foreigners, and intelligence agencies are not required to get a warrant in those cases.
On Wednesday, however, former President Donald Trump called for the renewal of 702 to be destroyed.
"'KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!' the former president posted on Truth Social.
The procedural vote to bring up the bill on Wednesday subsequently tanked in a 193-228 vote.
