The FBI made 278,000 illegal searches under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) database to target suspects of the January 6 riot, George Floyd protesters, victims of crimes, and donors of a congressional candidate, according to a recently unsealed court document.
In recent years, the FBI has come under fire from lawmakers and activists for abusing the Section 702 database to search for the communications of Americans without a warrant. The bureau has claimed it has implemented procedure changes to reduce noncompliance with the rules governing searching the database.
The FBI is only supposed to search the database if an agent is sure they will get evidence of a crime or get information relevant to foreign intelligence.
