On Friday’s CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish warned of the FISA extension with fears over President Trump’s “political investigations,” as she acted as if no political investigation were done under the Biden Administration. After Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project and member of the Media Research Center's board of directors, mentioned the use of FISA to spy on the 2016 Trump Campaign, Cornish implied that the usage of FISA was fine since it went after an alleged Russian connection.
The discussion was led by Representative Joe Morelle of New York, who voted against a FISA extension due to fear of “overreach.”
Cornish interjected with “concerns” over a Trump administration’s usage of the system: “But can you understand their concerns, even given how they now view this Trump administration as one that is inclined towards political investigations?”
On CNN This Morning, in a discussion of a FISA extension, Cornish mitigated the Obama administration's spying on the Trump Campaign in 2016 and instead feared the Trump administration's use because, as she says, they are "inclined towards political investigations." pic.twitter.com/aHHVmL7ulw
— Nick (@nspin310) April 17, 2026
She continued with fear of non-neutral investigations: “I mean, there is an overall sense of people being maybe less trustful of the FBI, of intelligence officials, and feeling like the investigations are going to be politically neutral.”
After Morelle pointed out the right was “concerned about the Biden administration,” and Democrats were concerned about the “abuse of the Trump administration,” Cornish posed a question to Schilling: “Yes, what - can I ask you what's going on there? Do you guys like FISA anymore or not?”
Schilling said, “Oh, we hate it,” which Cornish responded to with “But I thought you wanted it after 9/11, right?”
Schilling mentioned the overlooked topic in the segment of the Obama Administration spying on the Trump campaign in 2016 for an alleged Russia connection:
I mean, I don't think there's any disagreement that, you know, the - Obama and his Justice Department used these FISA warrants to spy on what ended up being a winning campaign. And we don't want that for Americans. And-
Cornish stopped Schilling in his thoughts and seemed to agree with the Obama administration spying due to “foreign targets”:
Well, there's no disagreement that there was an investigation into the Trump campaign when they were concerned about Russia, right? The whole point of getting FISA is to be able to go after foreign targets. Tell me if I'm wrong.
What Cornish failed to admit was that that Russian connection was falsified to deceive to the FISA court into giving them the warrant for Carter Page, as an inspector general report uncovered. The FBI knew Page was a source for the CIA but falsely claimed he was working for the Russians.
In the final analysis, CNN legal expert Elliot Williams rightfully mentioned that both sides of the aisle recently seem to unite on the issue of surveillance.
You get elements of the right and elements of the left that have never liked it, have never liked - have always been suspicious about the government having power to look into affairs. And that's why you're seeing some votes like this happening the way they are.
As Williams pointed out, it should not be difficult to agree on the issue of the need to mitigate government surveillance, something Cornish may not have wanted to do when she talked about Democrats compared to Republicans.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
CNN This Morning
April 17, 2026
6:55:50 AM Eastern
(...)
AUDIE CORNISH: But can you understand their concerns, even given how they now view this Trump administration as one that is inclined towards political investigations?
REP. JOE MORELLE (D-NY): Oh, yeah.
CORNISH: I mean there is an overall sense of people being maybe less trustful of the FBI, of intelligence officials, and feeling like the investigations are going to be politically neutral.
MORELLE: Yes, I think on the right, they're concerned about the Biden administration. On the left they're concerned about the uses and we feel abuse of the Trump administration.
It is important to note, the president urged people to vote against this bill two years ago and said that he had problems with it and was going to make a different bill when it came to the House. And, obviously, that didn't happen. It was chaos on the floor.
CORNISH: Yes, what - can I ask you what's going on there? Do you guys like FISA anymore or not?
TERRY SCHILLING: Oh, we hate it. No, they - no, honestly.
CORNISH: But I thought you wanted it after 9/11, right? It's like -
SCHILLING: Well, we did. No, but we - look, we were warned about this, right? We were warned under the Bush administration that this could be used against us.
CORNISH: Overreach.
SCHILLING: And it was, right? I mean, I don't think there's any disagreement that, you know, the - Obama and his Justice Department used these FISA warrants to spy on what ended up being a winning campaign. And we don't want that for Americans. And -
CORNISH: Well, there's no disagreement that there was an investigation into the Trump campaign when they were concerned about Russia, right? The whole point of getting FISA is to be able to go after foreign targets. Tell me if I'm wrong.
ELLIOTT WILLIAMS: True. You know, it's interesting, and it's funny having this conversation right after the conversation we had earlier about Iran, which is another thing that has scrambled American politics, but something I also remember back from when I was a young attorney on Capitol Hill, one issue unites the right and left as well, and that's surveillance.
CORNISH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: You get elements of the right and elements of the left that have never liked it, have never liked - have always been suspicious about the government having power to look into affairs. And that's why you're seeing some votes like this happening the way they are.
(...)
