Trump in trouble as Dems threaten to use critical ‘leverage’ to tank key priority: report

Democratic lawmakers are ready and willing to blow up a bi-partisan deal with Republicans to force President Donald Trump to abandon a controversial priority, Punchbowl News reported Wednesday, a plan in which Democrats yield extraordinary “leverage.”

That priority is the nomination of controversial Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who, despite having no prior intelligence or national security experience, was tapped by Trump to replace outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Pulte’s nomination was met with immediate backlash from Democrats, many of whom point to his history of targeting Trump’s adversaries with accusations of mortgage fraud.

To get Trump to ditch Pulte, Democrats are privately warning GOP leaders that if they don’t “pressure Trump to withdraw his appointment of Pulte,” they’ll withdraw their support for a bi-partisan deal to support an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a law that permits national intelligence agencies to surveil overseas communications without a warrant, including those of Americans.

“Despite Republicans’ concerns about Pulte, many argued Tuesday that reauthorizing [FISA] shouldn’t be ‘conflated’ with his appointment. [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune (R-SD) regularly says [FISA] is so important for U.S. national security that ‘we can’t afford to go dark,’” Punchbowl News’ report reads.

“In this case, Democrats would be walking away from a bi-partisan deal in hopes of somehow convincing Trump to back down. But Democrats have leverage here. Republicans can’t pass a FISA reauthorization on their own. With a handful of GOP senators expected to oppose any FISA agreement, Thune would likely need at least a dozen Democrats to support the bill.”