Colorado congressman on Bill Pulte, reauthorizing FISA, and cuts to NATO dues
(CBS, KYMA) - Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte.
Brennan says Pulte has been "accused of using mortgage information to go after the president's political enemies," which is under investigation by the GAO.
This prompted Brennan to ask Rep. Crow what harm, if any, can be done now that Pulte is the Acting DNI, and if Democrats have the power to stop that, to which he said:
"I'm obviously concerned that this is somebody who's a political attack dog, and his single biggest qualification is that he's loyal to Donald Trump and is willing to go after Donald Trump's enemies. But my more immediate concern is the fact that this is a really important position. This sits atop our intelligence agencies. And by law, Congress mandated this person have significant intelligence experience because they have to make sure that we're keeping Americans safe, which is not what Bill Pulte is capable of doing. So, I'm just more worried day to day that Americans are at risk because we have someone who's incompetent at the head of this agency."
Brennan then asked the congressman if Democrats will reauthorize FISA, a surveillance tool, and if they miscalculated, and Crow said:
"Not at all. I mean, I've always voted for FISA before. I'm on the intelligence committee, I know how important it is, but I'm unwilling to trade Americans' constitutional rights, privacy, and essential civil liberties for temporary extension to this program. I'm just unwilling to do it. Right, that's what this administration is asking us to do. They say, give up your constitutional rights, give up Americans' rights and privacy, and we'll just make sure we keep you protected. I mean, that's what autocracies say. I'm not going to do that. I'm willing to have a discussion about what checks we need to put in place. A short-term extension, I'm not going to give them a three-year runway on this program. What about this administration would give us confidence that they're going to follow the law? Short term extensions, then we can talk."
During the interview, Brennan and Crow talked about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announcing that the U.S. is going to conduct a six-month review of U.S. force posture in Europe, and said he threatened to cut American dues to NATO if "European nations don't boost military spending."
When asked if he has received any information on where the troops would be pulled from, and what does that look like, the congressman said:
"This administration is going to have a heck of a time in front of the bipartisan Armed Services Committee, which, in an overwhelming bipartisan manner, has said very clearly no troop withdrawals or changes from Europe unless they come to the committee and explain why that's in our national security interests. Over and over, we've done that, and we just did that last month when we marked up the annual defense budget, so they haven't come to us, they haven't given us any, any of those details. I'm not presumptively against troop changes, but what I am against troop changes is when they're not tied to our national security, you know? If they want to move troops around Europe, fine, let's have that discussion, but pulling them out of Europe would actually be detrimental to Americans."
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Crow, click here.
