A key surveillance tool that allows the US to collect intelligence abroad appears certain to expire after Congress failed to temporarily extend the program. The impasse is a protest against President Donald Trump’s temporary pick to head the nation’s intelligence agencies, according to the Associated Press.
Trump's Pick Sparks Standoff
Trump doubled down on his choice of Bill Pulte for acting director of national intelligence, despite the federal housing finance regulator having little experience in intelligence. In response, Democratic politicians said they would not support the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, unless Trump withdraws Pulte’s appointment and nominates a permanent replacement.
House and Senate Votes Fail
The House vote collapsed, with 19 Republicans and nearly all Democrats rejecting the temporary measure, resulting in a 198-218 defeat. The Senate tried to approve its own versions, but also failed, with the law due to expire today at midnight. After the votes, Trump announced Jay Clayton, a US attorney who previously served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as his permanent pick for intelligence director. However, the president’s move did not seem able to break the standoff over Pulte before the deadline.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said: “Pulte has to go. He cannot be in the DNI role. It’s too important.”
Other Developments
In other developments, Donald Trump declared “a great settlement” with Iran, which could be signed soon, “maybe in Europe, over the weekend.” Trump’s hand-picked board at the Kennedy Center is mounting a last-minute effort to keep his name on the facade of the performing arts facility before a court-ordered deadline to remove it by Friday. The board voted on Thursday to seek a stay of US District Judge Christopher Cooper’s 29 May ruling that said Trump’s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center, according to a person familiar with the move who requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting.
Congressman Robert Garcia, who is in line to chair the House oversight committee next year if Democrats win back the majority in November, called for testimony from Vice-President JD Vance and other senior officials over what he called “the White House cover-up” of the Epstein files revealed by The New York Times.
US federal authorities are investigating what appears to be a massive etching of “8647” into the grass of the National Mall. Live webcam footage from atop the Washington Monument as of Thursday afternoon shows the markings, with a highly visible “8,” along with less visible “6”, “4” and “7”.
