A bitter fight over the federal government’s spy powers is quickly becoming a test of how much sway House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has with President Donald Trump.Johnson, a close ally who owes his speakership to Trump’s vote of confidence, has traveled to the White House twice this week to resolve a dispute over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The authority, which allows foreign surveillance without a warrant, was on track to pass the Senate, but the deal fell apart last week when Democrats objected to Trump appointing Bill Pulte as his interim intelligence chief.Johnson’s outreach has so far failed to break the impasse. Congress is at risk of letting Section 702 expire on Friday, and if anything, the president has doubled down on Pulte, moving up the start date of his appointment to next week. But Democrats plan to withhold the votes to pass an extension until the president gives some sort of concession, viewing Pulte as inadequate given his lack of national security experience.
On Wednesday, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said he would support an extension if Trump replaced Pulte with deputy intelligence chief Aaron Lukas.
