FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden threatens to filibuster if Trump goes after encryption

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who was re-elected last week, told VICE News in an exclusive interview that he is willing to cross the aisle to work with President-elect Donald Trump, but that he is also poised for battle on civil liberties.

Wyden is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and has gone up against the NSA and the CIA. He thinks national security will play a prominent role in the Trump administration. And even though his party is in the minority in Congress, he intends to hold Trump accountable should the president try to weaken protections surrounding encryption.

“I’ve already indicated that if there’s an effort to pursue that, I will go to the floor of the United States Senate and I will filibuster that legislation,” Wyden said.

He also issued a warning to Trump and his administration about how government lawyers treat and interpret the law. “If there’s an effort to expand secret law — as I did in both the Obama administration and the Bush administration, I will be blowing the whistle on that,” he said.