FBI is buying location data on Americans, Kash Patel tells Senate
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has started buying location data on Americans, the FBI director, Kash Patel, said under oath at the Senate intelligence committee worldwide threats hearing on Wednesday.
Patel’s admission came in response to a question from Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who is a longtime opponent of the warrantless surveillance of Americans. Wyden told Patel that his predecessor, Christopher Wray, testified in 2023 that the FBI did not at that time purchase location data derived from internet advertising, although acknowledged that it had done so in the past.
“Is that the case still?” Wyden asked. “And if so, can you commit this morning to not buying Americans’ location data?”
“We do purchase commercially available information that’s consistent with the constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us,” Patel responded.
“So you’re saying that the agency will buy Americans’ location data,” Wyden said. “I believe that that’s what you’ve said in kind of intelligence lingo. And I just want to say as we start this debate, doing that without a warrant is an outrageous end run around the fourth amendment. It’s particularly dangerous given the use of artificial intelligence to comb through massive amounts of private information.
“This is exhibit A for why Congress needs to pass our bipartisan, bicameral bill, the Government Surveillance Reform Act,” Wyden said, referring to legislation he is working to pass to rein in surveillance.
Wyden’s questioning of Patel on this issue was amplified on social media by Warren Davidson, a House Republican who introduced a House bill mirroring Wyden’s Senate measure with Democratic congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.
“This is a clear violation of the fourth amendment and is why I introduced the Government Surveillance Reform Act,” Davidson observed, “to close the data broker loophole that allows intelligence agencies to buy Americans’ private data.”
The fourth amendment to the United States constitution defines the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” and specifies that “no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized”.
Key events
Elizabeth Warren says Trump wants new election law to ‘make it harder for Americans to vote’
Speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, argued that the changes to election law Republicans call the Save America Act will make it more difficult for US citizens to vote and could lead to people considered likely to vote for Democrats being removed from voter rolls by the Trump administration.
Here is the start of Warren’s floor speech:
Donald Trump is trying to stop American citizens from voting. Why? Because he knows his agenda is unpopular and Republicans can’t win based on what he’s doing, so he wants to rig the election by picking his own voters. That’s what the Save Act is all about.
Don’t let Trump and the Republicans in Congress fool you. They’ll say things like, ‘You should have to show ID to vote just like you do to buy a beer.’ But this is not an ordinary voter ID bill. This is not a bill that says everybody has to show either a driver’s license or student ID to vote.
This is a way to keep American citizens from voting. I’ll give you an example. If this bill passes, then in 45 of 50 states, your driver’s license won’t count as valid ID. Let’s say you’re a married woman who lives in Massachusetts. And let’s say that when you got married, you took your husband’s name. Well, when you go to the polls to vote, you can’t register by showing them your updated driver’s license. Why? Because Massachusetts is one of the 45 states where a driver’s license doesn’t prove citizenship.
So you bring along your birth certificate? Now can you vote? Nope. Your birth certificate is still under your maiden name. Yes, you can use a passport, if you have one. But remember that fewer than half of all Americans have a passport and it costs $165 to get one – and takes a month or two, if everything is working on time.
No passport and no birth certificate that matches your driver’s license? Well, Trump and the Republicans say you’re out of luck.
And that’s just one example of how this bill will actually make it harder for Americans to vote.
Here’s another deeply disturbing thing about this bill: it would require states to hand over sensitive information about voters to Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, so that some shadowy guys can do whatever they want with it.
Maybe they take you off the voter rolls. Maybe they use that information for something else. No one knows what will happen. This is an agency whose former leader Kristi Noem said, just a few weeks ago, ‘We need to … make sure that we have the right people voting.’ Guess who’s going to get swept off the voter rolls? People that the Republicans think are likely to vote Democratic.
So, sweep off Black people, sweep off Brown people, sweep off women, sweep off students, sweep off people in precincts who voted Democratic last time, sweep off people that you think might vote Democratic in the upcoming election.
I’ve heard this bill called Jim Crow 2.0, harking back to the days when states in the south blocked Black people from being able to vote with a whole series of tests and barriers in the way so they wouldn’t be able to vote.
The Trump bill is Jim Crow 2.0.
Warren went on to point out that noncitizen voting “is extremely rare”, noting that a 2024 audit of voter rolls carried out by Georgia’s Republican state government found just 20 noncitizens registered to vote out of 8.2 million registered voters.
‘A movement is about the people – not any one person,’ Pelosi says of César Chávez allegations
Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, and the only woman to ever hold that office, has released this statement on the allegations of sexual assault and abuse by the late labor organizer César Chávez:
It was with great sadness that I learned of the egregious revelations reported by the United Farm Workers about César Chávez. We must listen to the survivors, speak their truth, and uphold the values of dignity and justice in the face of conduct that deplorably betrays those principles.
“Words are inadequate to heal the trauma of Dolores Huerta and the courageous women who have already come forward, but may it be a comfort that so many people are praying and expressing support for them during this unimaginable time.
A movement is about the people – not any one person – and its strength lies in the values it upholds. We can honor the farmworker movement – and the generations who sacrificed to build it – while also confronting painful truths. No legacy is above accountability.”
Gabbard won’t say if White House claim Iran posed an ‘imminent nuclear threat’ is true
As our colleagues Joseph Gedeon and George Chidi report, Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee pressed Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, to explain why her deputy, Joe Kent, said in his resignation letter on Tuesday that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation”, which contradicts weeks of statements to the contrary by Donald Trump.
The president and his aides have repeatedly described the threat posed by Iran as imminent to justify the war, although when he announced the start of “major combat operations in Iran” from his Florida beach club on 28 February, Trump declared that it was a mission “to defend the American people by eliminating eminent threats from the Iranian regime”, having apparently misread the word “imminent” on the Teleprompter.
In a carefully worded statement after Kent’s resignation on Tuesday, Gabbard, who made opposition to war with Iran the central plank of her failed run for the presidency in 2020, said that “determining what is and is not an imminent threat” was up to the president, not the intelligence community she oversees. She notably failed to say that the intelligence she had seen supported Trump’s claim that Iran was about to attack the US.
In his questioning of Gabbard, Senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, pointed out that on day 2 of the conflict the White House website called the US attack a “military campaign to eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime”.
“Was it the assessment of the intelligence community that there was an ‘imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime’, yes or no?” Ossoff asked.
When Gabbard replied, “Senator, the only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president,” Ossoff shot back: “False. This is the ‘Worldwide Threats’ hearing, where you present to Congress ‘national intelligence, timely, objective and independent of political considerations’. You’ve stated today that the intelligence community’s assessment is that Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated and that ‘there had been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability’.”
“Was it the intelligence community’s assessment,” he continued, “that, nevertheless, despite this obliteration, there was a quote ‘imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime’? Yes or no.”
“It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” Gabbard replied.
“No, it is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States. This is the ‘Worldwide Threats’ hearing, where, as you noted in your opening testimony, quote, you ‘represent the IC’s assessment of threats’.”
When Ossoff again repeated the question of whether there was intelligence to support the White House claim Iran posed “imminent nuclear threat”, Gabbard repeated her claim that it was up to the president to say if a threat was imminent.
“You’re evading a question because to provide a candid response to the committee would contradict a statement from the White House,” Ossoff concluded.
White House shows Trump returning from dignified transfer ceremony, without a hat
Donald Trump just returned to the White House from a second dignified transfer ceremony at Dover air force base in Delaware this month, where he paid his respects to US service members killed fighting his war on Iran.
This time, according to images of the president before and after the ceremony for six service members killed in a plane crash released by the White House, Trump appears to have ditched the sports hat he wore during a similar ceremony for the war dead two weeks ago, sparking a backlash and some creative news reporting from his allies at Fox News.
Despite the criticism of his decision to salute the fallen troops in his Trump-branded USA golf hat at the last ceremony, the president’s political action committee used a photograph of him doing so in a fundraising email last week. The email from Trump offered donors a so-called “National Security Briefing Membership”, which would give them access to “my private national security briefings, unfiltered updates on the threats facing America”.
Senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, held up a copy of the fundraising email at a Senate hearing on Wednesday and called it “a disgrace”.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
-
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers heard testimony from current Trump officials, and one lawmaker poised to take up a position in the administration. Senator Markwayne Mullin fielded questions from his colleagues in Congress in a confirmation hearing to take over as Donald Trump’s new homeland security secretary. Senators, including Republicans like Rand Paul, questioned Mullin’s temperament, how he would be different from his predecessor Kristi Noem, cryptic comments about classified “overseas” trips while in office, and the future of federal emergency management. While there were tense moments (see a particularly personal back-and-forth with Paul), Mullin tried to appear conciliatory and insisted he would make the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stronger under his leadership.
-
The hearing comes amid a month-long shutdown of certain agencies within the DHS. Republicans and Trump today continued to blame Democrats for the lapse in funding, as they demand stronger guardrails on federal immigration enforcement. Today, Hakeem Jeffries launched a discharge petition to force a vote for a separate funding bill for the TSA, Fema, Cisa and the coast guard. It’s a long-shot effort, since he would need 218 signatures to proceed. Meanwhile Trump said the ongoing shutdown is “causing chaos at the airports”, branded Democrats as “lunatics” and said their demands are “totally unreasonable”.
-
Senators on the intelligence committee also had the chance to grill Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, on the ongoing military operation in Iran. Gabbard, who established herself as an anti-interventionist candidate during her 2020 run for the Democratic presidential nominee, said that the US had “significantly degraded” Iran’s strategic position. However, Gabbard evaded questions from lawmakers about whether the regime posed any “imminent threat” to the US. This comes after her top counter-terrorism official resigned on Tuesday, claiming the Trump administration was pressured by Israel to launch the initial strikes at the end of February.
-
Speaking in Michigan, JD Vance acknowledged the soaring price of oil, and the subsequent increase at the fuel pump for most Americans. Meanwhile, Trump attended the dignified transfer for the air force crew that was killed when their refueling aircraft crashed over friendly airspace in Iraq. Bar a few Truth Social posts earlier, we’ve yet to hear from the president today.
-
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for the second time this year, a widely expected move amid turmoil in the Middle East and rising energy prices. All but one of the 12 voting members of the committee voted to keep rates at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, resisting enormous pressure from Donald Trump to lower borrowing costs at the risk of driving up prices in the long term.
Coral Murphy Marcos and Michael Sainato
Lawmakers, union leaders and several community organizations expressed their dismay after allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior and abuse of young women or girls emerged against the late labor organizer César Chávez.
The New York Times released an investigation on Wednesday detailing the allegations, which revealed that for years the co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union had groomed and sexually abused girls who were involved in the movement.
The report has led to multiple cancellations or rebrandings of events that were meant to celebrate César Chávez Day, which is observed annually on 31 March, Chávez’s birthday. States including California, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Oregon and Minnesota have recognized the holiday.
Before the Times released the report, media inquiries about the allegations prompted the UFW to cancel celebrations honoring Chávez, calling the allegations “disturbing”, “shocking” and “indefensible”.
The Times investigation includes allegations by Dolores Huerta, one of the country’s most influential labor activists and Chávez’s ally, who said he forced her to have sex with him in the 1960s. Huerta released a statement on Wednesday, saying she “can no longer stay silent”.
Huerta told the news outlet that Chávez drove her to a grape field in Delano, California, in 1966 and raped her. She was 36 at the time. The rape led to a pregnancy, as did a second sexual encounter, according to her statement.
Huerta had not publicly shared her story, and said in the statement that she chose to come forward after the Times “indicated that I was not the only one – there were others”.
Read the full report here:
Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady amid despite pressure from Trump
The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for the second time this year, a widely expected move amid turmoil in the Middle East and rising energy prices.
Fed officials faced a confluence of issues to consider in their meeting this week: soaring oil and gas prices, fluctuating inflation that still remains above the Fed’s target of 2%, and a weakened job market that unexpectedly saw 92,000 losses last month.
All but one of the 12 voting members of the committee voted to keep rates at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, resisting enormous pressure from Donald Trump to lower borrowing costs at the risk of driving up prices in the long term.
In a statement, the board noted that “uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated” and “implications of developments in the Middle East for the US economy are uncertain”.
The Fed’s decision comes as the US and Israel approach their third week of war with Iran, forcing central banks across the world to decide how to weigh skyrocketing gas prices and their impact on the global supply chain.
Donald Trump is now attending the dignified transfer for the air force crew that was killed when their refueling aircraft crashed over friendly airspace in Iraq. All six on board were killed during the incident that involved another aircraft and was in support of the ongoing military operation in Iran.
The US military said the crash was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.
The event is closed to the press, and Trump took no questions from reporters as he traveled to the ceremony.
‘It’s not going to last forever’: Vance promises lower energy costs while oil prices keep climbing during the Iran war
Speaking in Michigan today, the vice-president acknowledged the soaring price of oil, and the subsequent increase at the fuel pump for most Americans.
Today, Brent crude went up by 4.8% – meaning the cost per barrel sits at $108.42. Meanwhile, the average price for a gallon of gasoline in the US is $3.84 – almost 30% higher than it was a month ago, according to American Automobile Association (AAA).
“We know that people are hurting because of it, and we’re doing everything that we can to ensure that they stay low. This is a temporary war. It’s not going to last for ever,” Vance told the crowd at a manufacturing facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan. “We’re going to take care of business. We’re going to come back home. When that happens, you’re going to see energy prices come back down.”
George Chidi
The Democratic senator Mark Kelly, of Arizona, expressed frustration over the lack of candid answers from director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA director John Ratcliffe and other intelligence officials about intelligence briefings for the president leading up to his decision to launch attacks on Iran.
Kelly noted that Gabbard posted to social media that Donald Trump concluded there “was an imminent threat and made a decision to attack Iran after carefully reviewing all of the information before him”. However, the lawmaker added that “the country deserves to know what the information was”.
Kelly asked officials if they were instructed to brief on whether Iran would close the straight of Hormuz. Gabbard, Ratcliffe and Defense Intelligence Agency director Lt Gen James Adams deferred specific questions about what they had told the president to a closed intelligence committee hearing to be held later today.
“We’re having a hard time finding out, not only if you briefed the president on something, but even if the White House asked if they could be briefed on something, or if analysis was produced,” Kelly said. “We’re trying to figure out if the president knew what the downside was of the straight of Hormuz being closed … Did he know this was going to happen? Or did he just disregard it?”
Kelly then held up a fundraising email sent six days ago from Never Surrender Inc, a Pac linked to the president, promising donors access to “private national security briefings”.
The fundraising message was controversial for its use of an image of Trump at a dignified transfer of service members killed in the line of duty during the Iran campaign, saluting a dead soldier’s casket while wearing a white baseball cap.
Kelly asked Ratcliffe whether he thought supporters of the president should be able to pay and receive his private national security briefings.
The CIA director said he had not offered presidential briefings to others, and would not – citing the Hatch Act. “I don’t know that document is, but regardless, what it says isn’t happening,” Ratcliffe said.
‘They say, “Oh, this is just a voter ID law.” Bullshit’: Democrats decry Save America Act as Senate debate continues
After the Senate voted to debate the sweeping and restrictive voter ID bill, Democrats decried the legislation on Capitol Hill today.
At a rally opposing the Save America Act, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, slammed GOP lawmakers for bringing the bill to the upper chamber floor: “They’re trying to dupe America. They say, ‘Oh, this is just a voter ID law.’ Bullshit!”
The top Democrat in the Senate said that the bill – which would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register and to present approved identification when they go to the polls – is the president and Republicans’ attempt to “fix the election”.
“Because they know damn well that if the election were held today they would lose,” Schumer added. “It is Jim Crow 2.0, but it’s spread across the whole country.”
The US House passed the bill earlier this year, but it faces steep odds in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster rule.
Dharna Noor
Last year under former head Kristi Noem, DHS placed some Fema staff on leave after they signed a public letter of dissent. Known as the “Katrina declaration”, it warned that federal officials’ sweeping overhaul of the agency was putting the US at risk of another disaster like 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.
At the end of Mullin’s confirmation hearing, the Democratic senator Andrew Kim asked about Noem’s decision to dismiss those signatories and asked if his tenure would be different.
“Can you commit that, if confirmed, you would adhere to whistleblower laws and ensure that whistleblowers do not face retaliation for their protected disclosure,” he asked.
Mullin said “there’s already laws” protecting whistleblowers and that he will “work within the law”.
John Fetterman, known for being more hawkish on immigration than his Democratic colleagues and breaking with them on the DHS shutdown, defended the Markwayne Mullin over his past controversies, namely his attempt to challenge Teamsters president Sean O’Brien to a fight at a 2023 hearing (questioned about that by GOP senator Rand Paul earlier, Mullin said that he and O’Brien are now “good friends”).
Fetterman’s vote could be crucial to sending Mullin’s nomination to the floor, where he would be sure to secure enough votes for confirmation.
The Pennsylvania Democrat touted his strong personal relationship with the Oklahoma Republican and appeared to signal that he was on board.
I came here and I committed to come here with an open mind, and I’m going to continue to do that. And it’s not going to be about ‘got you’ moments for me. It’s about just saying my experience with you has been consistent kindness and professionalism.
Mullin vows to put forward nominee to lead Fema
Dharna Noor
Throughout Donald Trump’s second term so far, the Senate has not confirmed a leader for Fema.
Markwayne Mullin told the Democratic senator Andrew Kim he would change that.
We’re already looking at some [potential candidates] in the case that we do get confirmed. We’re making that a priority.
“A nominee for Fema and the reduction of DHS micromanagement of Fema will minimize the risk of our federal government not being prepared for extreme weather and other significant risk,” said Michael Coen, a former Fema chief of staff in the Obama and Biden administrations.
“Mullin shared a change in approach to Fema,” Coen added. “The nation’s emergency management community and Fema employees will await his actions after confirmation.”
Dharna Noor
As deadly floods inundated Texas last summer, reports showed that Fema was unable to pre-position search and rescue crews or properly attend to emergency calls because of a policy implemented by former DHS head Kristi Noem that she personally approve all agency spending over $100,000.
At the hearing today, Markwayne Mullin said he would repeal that policy.
But an anonymous Fema manager noted that Mullin also noted that if confirmed to head DHS, he will also be “responsible for taxpayer dollars”, indicating those must be safeguarded.
“So I’m really guarded,” said the anonymous manager. “Fema already safeguards the taxpayer dollars by reviewing contracts and grants in accordance with the laws, policies and guidance in place. We don’t need more red tape on the processes in place.”
Asked for a response to Mullin’s statement that the workforces of some agencies are bloated, the manager said:
Fema lost 10% of its workforce in the first half of 2025 when we were already short-staffed.
And a headcount doesn’t really capture the damage of losing senior level staff that had years of knowledge and experience that is not easily replaced.
They noted that Fema has lost leaders who have presided over dozens or even hundreds of disasters.
That knowledge is gone. We cannot hire our way back to that.
Mullin does not express regret over comments about Renee Good
Mullin declined to express regret for saying he “absolutely” believed the federal officer who killed Renee Good was “justified” in shooting her.
He told the Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal that the officer “had to make a split decision” and that there was an ongoing investigation.
In that case was a car was running towards him and did strike him at that point, that car becomes a lethal weapon. And that was there was another officer obviously giving her verbal commands.
“I apologize for interrupting you, but you’re saying you do not regret that statement?” asked Blumenthal.
Mullin replied that the federal investigation into Good’s death is “going on” and that he would take a look at it if confirmed.
Dharna Noor
When asked by Democratic senator Andrew Kim if he would stop cutting Fema staff if confirmed to lead DHS, Mullin said “some agencies had been “very bloated” with “too many staff”.
He did not confirm if Fema is one of those bloated agencies.
One longtime official, who asked to remain anonymous, criticized these remarks from Mullin.
“If any agencies are bloated, it’s the ones that are hiring high school dropouts off the street,” the person told the Guardian, referring to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The anonymous Fema official also remarked upon Mullin’s statement that Fema “saw a lot of problems when it came to Superstorm Sandy”.
“I would hope that anyone coming would have a rudimentary understanding that many reforms have been passed over the last 20 years since Sandy,” the person said. “If we were serious about those fixes, the head of DHS would be giving us more support to implement them and improve, not just say we’ve failed.”
Mullin repeatedly voted against providing aid for victims of 2012’s Hurricane Sandy.
Mullin appeared to be less vehement on topic of sanctuary cities, noting that he’d like to prioritize communication with local leaders.
“I would like to go in there and talk to the mayors. I’d like to go in there and talk to the sheriffs, talk to the police chiefs, say, what is your concerns?” Mullin said. “Because the president has made it very clear he wants to protect the streets for every American … I don’t think that should be controversial.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/mar/18/donald-trump-iran-war-markwayne-mullin-security-immigration-intelligence-federal-reserve-interest-rates-latest-news-updates
About the Author
