by Mark C. Eades
While Attorney General Trump fixer William Barr works overtime putting Donald Trump and his cronies further and further above the law and beyond accountability for anything that they do, he and Senate Majority Leader Russian stooge “Moscow Mitch” McConnell are making moves to expand Barr’s surveillance powers over political rivals, journalists, and you, the average citizen. Expect Barr to use these increased surveillance powers in the service of Trump’s re-election campaign and against all who oppose him if he is re-elected.
As senior national security correspondent Spencer Ackerman reports at The Daily Beast, McConnell is set to expand Barr’s surveillance authority during a vote this week on a bill to renew the 2001 PATRIOT Act under the title of the “USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act of 2020” (H.R. 6172, S. 3421). McConnell’s amendments to the bill are aimed at “increasing Barr’s oversight of surveillance on political candidates while expanding surveillance authorities on every other American.” Barr’s expanded surveillance powers would include warrantless surveillance of Americans’ internet activities. At the same time, Barr’s expanded oversight powers would protect certain politicians and certain people suspected of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
In other words, McConnell’s amendments to the reauthorization bill do all the wrong things for all the wrong people: While people like Donald Trump and Mike Flynn get more protection, people like you and me get more surveillance. This is what passes for national security in America in 2020. Your Tax Dollars At Work!
“Under the McConnell amendment, Barr gets to look through the web browsing history of any American—including journalists, politicians, and political rivals—without a warrant, just by saying it is relevant to an investigation...,” said Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), “The McConnell amendment hands vast surveillance powers to Attorney General Barr at a moment when he is accelerating the corruption of the Department of Justice to serve Donald Trump’s political whims.”
“McConnell is literally trying to take a privacy safeguard designed for the press and religious groups and instead give it only to politicians and people suspected of being foreign agents,” said Sean Vitka, senior policy counsel with activist group Demand Progress, “He's also trying to sneak warrantless surveillance of internet and search histories into an amendment that claims to prohibit it. These are two of the most cynical attempts to undermine surveillance reform I've ever seen.”
Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and William Barr are determined to squash American democracy and turn the United States into a corrupt right-wing dictatorship. If we can’t stop them in this November’s election, we may find ourselves beyond a point of no return.