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GOP rep moves to shred PATRIOT Act, dismantle Deep State spy powers

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Anna Paulina Luna on Wednesday introduced legislation to repeal the PATRIOT Act, accusing the intelligence community of exploiting national security powers to build a sprawling, unaccountable surveillance apparatus.

Key Details:

  • Luna’s bill aims to completely repeal the PATRIOT Act, which was passed after 9/11 and dramatically expanded federal surveillance powers.

  • Civil liberties advocates like Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center for Justice say the law enabled warrantless data collection on Americans without suspicion of wrongdoing, a practice that has proven ineffective and even counterproductive in fighting terrorism.

  • House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said Congress “needs to make sure we win this time” after privacy-focused lawmakers nearly passed a 2024 amendment requiring warrants for surveillance of Americans under Section 702 of FISA.

Diving Deeper:

Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna introduced legislation Wednesday to fully repeal the PATRIOT Act, a post-9/11 surveillance law she says has enabled unelected bureaucrats to violate Americans’ constitutional rights under the guise of national security. In a statement, Luna said the law helped to “create the most sophisticated, unaccountable surveillance apparatus in the Western world.”

Luna’s proposal comes as Congress prepares to revisit key intelligence authorities, including Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for warrantless collection of Americans’ communications if they’re in contact with foreign targets. During the 2024 reauthorization debate, privacy-minded members of Congress narrowly failed to pass a warrant requirement amendment.

Speaking to Breitbart News, Elizabeth Goitein, senior director at the Brennan Center for Justice, explained how the PATRIOT Act’s lowered legal thresholds enabled mass surveillance: “It became lawful for the government to collect an American’s sensitive information based merely on a claim that the information was ‘relevant’ to a legitimate purpose,” she wrote. She also noted that mass surveillance has shown no real national security benefit. “There is zero evidence that suspicion less surveillance has made us safer,” she said, citing failed intelligence reviews that blamed overcollection for missing signs of domestic terrorism.

Luna argues the intelligence community must be stripped of its warrantless surveillance tools altogether. “My legislation will strip the deep state of these tools and protect every American’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures,” she said. “Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is using ‘security’ as an excuse to erode your freedom.”

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Trump: “I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!”

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President Trump moved Wednesday to end years of secrecy surrounding one of the nation’s most notorious scandals, signing legislation that compels the Department of Justice to hand Congress virtually every scrap of material tied to Jeffrey Epstein. The president announced the move on Truth Social, writing, “I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!”

Trump reminded supporters that he personally pressed House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fast-track the legislation. “Because of this request, the votes were almost unanimous in favor of passage,” he wrote, pointing to the rare level of bipartisan agreement behind a bill that forces unprecedented transparency. The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires the DOJ to deliver all unclassified records — and as much classified material as possible — to Congress within 30 days. It also directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to provide lawmakers with a list of government officials and other “politically exposed persons” tied to Epstein within just 15 days.

The measure sailed through the House in a staggering 427–1 vote Tuesday before clearing the Senate unanimously. Its path to passage wasn’t always straightforward. For months, the Trump administration had sparred with lawmakers pushing for the release, with the president often calling the frenzy around “Epstein files” a Democrat-driven hoax designed to smear him.

In his Truth Social post, Trump leaned into the history, reminding Americans that Epstein “was charged by the Trump Justice Department in 2019 (Not the Democrats!)” and that the disgraced financier “was a lifelong Democrat” who poured money into Democrat campaigns. The president also pointed to Epstein’s well-documented relationships with high-profile Democrats, listing figures such as Bill Clinton — “who traveled on his plane 26 times” — former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, activist billionaire Reid Hoffman, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Delegate Stacey Plaskett. “Perhaps the truth about these Democrats, and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein, will soon be revealed,” Trump wrote.

He added that the DOJ, under his direction, has already provided Congress nearly 50,000 pages of Epstein-related material — a stark contrast, he said, to the Biden administration, which “did not turn over a SINGLE file or page related to Democrat Epstein, nor did they ever even speak about him.”

For Trump, the transparency push is as much about exposing what Democrats don’t want voters to see as it is about delivering documents. He argued that the left had leaned on “the ‘Epstein’ issue” to distract from the “AMAZING Victories” of his administration. Now, with the bill signed and agencies under a firm deadline, he predicted the political tables are about to turn.

“This latest Hoax will backfire on the Democrats just as all of the rest have!” he wrote — a warning, and a promise, as Washington braces for whatever the next 30 days will reveal.

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Trump says release the Epstein files

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President Trump on Sunday urged House Republicans to vote to release any remaining government-held documents connected to Jeffrey Epstein, making clear he believes it’s time to stop allowing Democrats and the media to weaponize the scandal as a political distraction. Posting from his Truth Social account, Trump said the party should “vote to release the files” because “there is nothing to hide,” and told supporters he wants Republicans “back on point” and focused on delivering economic growth, border security, and protecting girls’ and women’s sports from radical gender activists.

Trump emphasized that the Department of Justice has already made public a massive amount of material related to Epstein — “tens of thousands of pages” — and said Democrats are the ones who should be answering questions, naming former President Bill Clinton and Democrat mega-financier Reid Hoffman as figures whose Epstein ties should be scrutinized. Trump also indicated he would direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to examine connections involving Clinton, Hoffman, and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

The president said Democrats are pushing the renewed focus on Epstein as a political weapon to cloud the GOP’s record and stall momentum heading into the next legislative fights. Trump pointed to the administration’s achievements — slashing inflation from record highs, lowering prices, delivering tax cuts, rebuilding the military, attracting historic levels of investment back into the United States, restoring border enforcement, deporting criminal illegal aliens, and defending women’s athletics against biological males — as proof that Republicans should not allow the left to drag the conversation into a political circus.

“Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive,” Trump wrote, adding that if Democrats had any meaningful evidence, they would have used it before “our landslide election victory.” He warned that some Republicans are being “used” by Democrats and insisted the party must stop falling into the “Epstein trap,” calling the scandal “a curse on the Democrats, not us.”

Trump’s comments come as a discharge petition to compel a House vote on releasing additional Epstein-related documents has reached the necessary signatures. Trump concluded his message by demanding Republicans stay focused on results, not theatrics, and rally behind the broader agenda to strengthen the country and “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”

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