Seven Republican Senators Just Blocked the Deep State Spy Tool Used Against Trump

The FBI spied on Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Now Senate Republicans want to make it even easier for the deep state to use the same weapon they used against Trump.

Seven GOP senators just said no – and the program that shredded the Fourth Amendment is on the clock.

The Tool That Targeted Trump's Team

This isn't ancient history.

In 2016, the FBI surveilled Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser, using warrants built on the fabricated Steele dossier – a document paid for by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

The DOJ's own inspector general found "significant inaccuracies" in those FISA applications.

The DOJ later conceded that two of the four surveillance orders against Page weren't even valid.

That abuse didn't stop with Trump's team.

At the peak in 2021 under the Biden administration, there were nearly 3 million warrantless searches of Americans in Section 702 data – 278,000 of which were conducted improperly.

Not a single person was held accountable.

The surveillance court itself characterized the FBI's violations as "persistent and widespread."

Trump called it out in 2024 – posting on Truth Social that FISA "was illegally used against me, and many others. They spied on my campaign."

He was right.

Which makes what happened Friday in the Senate all the more important.

The Seven Who Stood Up

The procedural vote to advance a long-term reauthorization of FISA Section 702 failed 47 to 52.

Seven Republicans crossed the aisle to kill it: Josh Hawley of Missouri, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rick Scott of Florida, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, and Eric Schmitt of Missouri.

Section 702 expires June 12.

Sen. Mike Lee explained exactly why they voted no.

"FISA 702 reauthorization failed because it did not contain a warrant requirement for spying on Americans," Lee said. "The people who spied on the Trump campaign, Members of Congress, and countless other Americans hate the idea. Come back with warrant requirement, and we'll pass the bill."

The establishment wanted a blank-check renewal – the same unchecked surveillance power that was weaponized against a sitting president's campaign.

These seven said bring us a warrant requirement first.

Washington's Surveillance Machine Doesn't Want Oversight

Under FISA Section 702, if you call a relative overseas, the NSA can legally collect that conversation – and the FBI can search it without ever going to a judge.

No warrant. No probable cause. No Fourth Amendment protection.

Rand Paul has been fighting this for years, warning that Washington was "spying on Americans through FISA, the way they spied on Trump."

In 2024, a House amendment requiring warrants for Americans' communications failed by a single tied vote: 212 to 212.

One vote separated every American's private communications from constitutional protection.

Now the same fight is back – and this time, seven Republicans held the line.

Sen. Rick Scott and House Freedom Caucus members put it plainly in a Fox News op-ed days before the vote: "unchecked deep-state bureaucrats are treating themselves as kings, putting their interests ahead of American liberty."

The surveillance establishment's argument is always the same: warrants would make America less safe.

That argument was made while the FBI was running hundreds of thousands of illegal searches – on Trump's allies, on senators, on 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign, on journalists.

The surveillance state had its chance to self-regulate.

It didn't.

Trump's own FBI spied on him using this exact apparatus.

Now Washington wants to hand that same weapon back – no warrant, no oversight, no accountability.

Seven senators just said like hell you will.

The question is whether the rest of the Senate has the guts to stand with them.

Sources:

• Nicole Silverio, "7 Republicans Buck Party And Vote Against Extension Of Warrantless Spying Tool," The Daily Caller, June 5, 2026.
• Savannah Behrmann, "FISA Reauthorization Stalls in Early-Morning Senate Vote," Roll Call, June 5, 2026.
• "Senate Fails to Extend FISA Surveillance Program as Deadline Nears," CBS News, June 5, 2026.
• Andy Harris, Keith Self, and Rick Scott, "Fix FISA, Don't Spy on Us," Fox News, June 4, 2026.
• "Senate Pushes Forward FISA Surveillance Bill as Expiration Looms," Fox News, 2026.