During a House Judiciary Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) spoke about President Trump stripping 'safeguards' around Americans' right to privacy.
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00:00Witnesses for joining us here today, the Fourth Amendment guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
00:10That right is the same today as it was when it was written centuries ago, but the facts on the ground have obviously changed.
00:20Members of Congress didn't have cell phones in their pockets. We didn't have Zoom. We didn't have email.
00:27The times have changed, and while the constitutional right to privacy has not changed, new technologies make it a lot harder to rein in government intrusion in the lives of the people.
00:42Artificial intelligence turbocharges surveillance capabilities by sifting through mountains of personal data in seconds.
00:49Data brokers aggregate and re-identify so-called de-identified data bought from apps and then sold to others, including the government, allowing them real-time access to Americans' location, purchasing habits and healthcare needs.
01:04And cameras equipped with facial recognition technology can scan a crowd and instantaneously pick out specific people, whether law enforcement targets or undocumented immigrants, you name it, all without a warrant.
01:16In an 1829 speech at the Virginia Constitutional Convention, Madison said to his colleagues,
01:22the essence of government is power, and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
01:30The U.S. government has broad surveillance authorities.
01:33When properly implemented, they keep us safe from terrorists and foreign adversaries and gangs, but such broad grants of power are also fertile ground for abuse.
01:43I believe Congress has a duty to balance the government's need for Americans' private data with our rights.
01:50I have voted in favor of government surveillance authorities when they do not trespass on our constitutional rights, and I voted against them when they don't.
01:58We obviously need to keep ourselves safe, both from criminals and fraudsters who would do us harm, as well as those in power who would violate our freedom.
02:09When we last reauthorized Section 702 of FISA, which allows warrantless collection of the communications of non-U.S. persons located overseas, including when those people are interacting with Americans,
02:20our solution to that tension between privacy and security was to establish more checks on the government.
02:27Congress previously imposed rules dictating when the FBI can search for Americans identifying information in the 702 databases,
02:35but we know those rules had been honored only in the breach.
02:39Rather than review a sampling of those U.S. person searches, the FBI's National Security Division now must audit every search for the communications of an American.
02:48These watchdogs within the FBI and in other government agencies are an essential line of defense against government overreach.
02:55But the problem today is that President Trump has fired all of those people.
02:59A week after he was sworn in, President Trump fired every Democratic member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
03:06This is the board created by Congress in 2004 to make sure the government does not violate American civil liberties in the name of keeping us safe.
03:14The work of these Democratic members have been lauded even by Republican members of our committee
03:18who recognized and shared their commitment to protecting our rights against government overreach.
03:24Trump has left the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board with only one member,
03:29a single member who's been stripped of all authority because the board needs a quorum, which is three, to act.
03:35She cannot issue recommendations on Section 702 U.S. person searches.
03:39She cannot hold public meetings.
03:41Without the fired members, it's as though the board simply doesn't even exist.
03:45But the president did not stop there.
03:47Remember those monthly audits of every single U.S. person search of the 702 database?
03:52He removed the individual responsible for managing that and rescinded offers extended to those who had been recruited to help her.
04:00So Congress cannot receive the audit reports required by law because there's simply nobody left to audit these warrantless searches,
04:07much less provide the mandatory report to Congress,
04:10which is why I'm also concerned about all the other things that have been done to remove the safeguards around Americans' right to privacy against government invasion.
04:20The president fired at least 17 inspectors general, dismantled the Cyber Safety Review Board,
04:27and removed the director of the NSA, the person in charge of collecting 702 data responsibly and within statutory limitations.
04:35Just last week, he fired the four-star general in charge of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command with other high-ranking security officials
04:43because, according to reports, Laura Loomer told him to do that.
04:47In a system that works, surveillance and privacy are inextricably tied and made consistent.
04:54Those conducting surveillance understand the threat both to the country and its civil liberties
04:59and thus apply the rules in a precise and disciplined way.
05:04Ben Franklin famously said that those who give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety
05:10deserve neither liberty nor safety.
05:13Well, Trump has defied even Ben Franklin because in 78 days, we have lost both privacy and safety.
05:20We are less safe and we're less free than we were on January 19, 2025.
05:25President Trump and those he's placed in charge of the FBI, like Kash Patel,
05:29have talked about using the power of government to visit retribution on anyone the president sees as an enemy.
05:34Over the last 78 days, we've watched the administration attack journalists, the free press, colleges, peaceful protesters,
05:42members of Congress, lawyers and law firms, even federal judges because they have countered his assault on the rights and freedoms of the people.
05:50Never have I felt more concerned about the extremely broad, warrantless surveillance powers that have been entrusted to the executive branch.
05:58Chairman Jordan and I have disagreed about various things in the past, but I must say he has shown commendable and strong leadership
06:04and worked across the aisle to ensure that Republicans and Democrats alike understand the dangers of unchecked government surveillance
06:13and the times bear him out.
06:14I am looking forward to working with him closely on a bipartisan basis in this set of hearings
06:20in the lead up to the expiration of FISA Section 702 next year to stand up for all American civil liberties.
06:27I thank him for his leadership.
06:28I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.
06:30The gentleman yields back.
06:31The chair recognizes the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Jordan, for his own answer.
06:34Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
06:35Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows government to conduct surveillance of foreigners,
06:44as the title would suggest, outside of the United States for intelligence information.
06:50Okay, that's all.