Sen. Rand Paul (R‑KY) has joined the growing number of critics House Speaker Mike Johnson (R‑LA) faces within the Republican Party, claiming that the House speaker has not stood up against Democrats in Congress.
Paul’s criticism stems from Johnson voting with 126 Democrats and 86 Republicans against an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which would have required a warrant for federal agencies to search the data of United States citizens. The senator argued that the United States does not have a right to spy on its citizens, citing the Fourth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.
“FISA doesn’t obey the fourth amendment, and so Speaker Johnson was incredibly wrong,” Paul said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo. “He broke the tie. He voted with the Democrats. Here we have the leader of the Republicans in the House votes with the Democrats against a warrant requirement. We also have Speaker Johnson voting for the spending package, once again with the majority of the Democrats. As I see it now, I’m not so sure there’s a difference between Mike J …