Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to engage my friend and colleague, the distinguished chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a distinguished lawyer in his own right. This is his wheelhouse. I appreciate the question because I think it actually--maybe there is a nuance here that I misstated my position, because I am of the same mind the Senator is when it comes to an American citizen who is mentioned in a communication with the foreign actor, because this is designed to deal only with foreign actors. What I was referring to was incidental communication, when there was a communication between the foreign actor and the U.S. person, and we can call him a U.S. person because he can also be a legal permanent resident. Basically, what we are talking about are U.S. citizens. So that is incidental collection when there is that contact between a foreign target and the American citizen. That is considered to be incidental collection, and no court has said it violates the Fourth Amendment. But I agree with the Senator that if, in fact, there is a mention of an American citizen in that communication and the law enforcement Agencies want more information about that American citizen, they have to get a warrant. They have to go to court and establish probable cause in order to get that information because that is what the Fourth Amendment is designed to protect. I hope I have understood the Senator's position.”