How Matt Gaetz helped solve GOP's impasse on controversial FBI spy tool with 'magic elixir' that empowers future Trump reforms

Congressman Matt Gaetz believes he found the right formula for Republicans as they face a contentious session of Congress ahead of the 2024 election.

Last week, when Republicans were locked into an impasse on the Foreign Information Surveillance Act (FISA) reauthorization vote in a conference meeting, Gaetz spoke to Speaker Johnson’s Chief of Staff Hayden Haynes and proposed an idea he told DailyMail.com.

'What about instead of reauthorizing FISA for five years, as the intelligence community asked for, they reduce it to just two years?' Gaetz said he asked.

Haynes and the speaker’s office proposed Gaetz’s idea to the rest of the caucus and found they were much more amenable to the idea. A senior source with Speaker Mike Johnson’s office confirmed Gaetz’s account. 

Gaetz explained his thinking on the idea in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.

Why not give Trump a crack at reforming the contentious program if he wins his election in November?

United States Representative Matt Gaetz on Capitol Hill

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson 

Employing a baseball metaphor, Gaetz said the idea helped get Republicans come together on a compromise.

‘While that created some consternation with both Judiciary and Intelligence members it was an enormous power to preserving an at bat for President Donald Trump,’ he said.

A reelected President Trump, Gaetz explained, would be the perfect person to press Republicans to substantially reform FISA in the future.

‘President Trump is the most famous victim of FISA abuses so that informs his perspective more than the pearl clutching,’ he said.

Troubling reports surfaced last year that FISA's Section 702 powers had been used 'improperly' 278,000 times to keep tabs on Americans and was also used to track January 6 defendants and Black Lives Matter activists.

As a result, Republicans authorized a modified version containing 'fixes' to the program to stem abuse.

That version passed the House last week on a two-year extension.  

The FISA reauthorization bill has to be passed by the Senate by Friday or it expires.  

Gaetz said while he and his allies did not get all they wanted on the FISA reform bill he was pleased they could reduce the length of the authorization by 60 percent. 

The Trump-supporting MAGA congressman who let the charge to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the beginning of the year appears more willing to serve as a deal maker in Congress. 

Gaetz explained he continued successfully working with Speaker Mike Johnson on contentious issues facing the House Republicans struggling to keep their majority.

‘I talk to the Speaker or a member of his team every day, they don’t always agree with me but they hear me out,’ he said.

The FISA fight, Gaetz argued, demonstrated a philosophy for Republicans moving forward with the idea of setting up key victories for Trump after the election.

‘The belief among House Republicans that if you preserve an at bat for President Trump there’s an opportunity for more change than we could achieve without him,’ he said.

He described the philosophy as a ‘magic elixir’ for Republicans tangling with tough issues like additional funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

Gaetz said he looked forward to the plan also creating momentum for the rest of the 2024 presidential campaign.

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz uses a microphone as Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump campaigns in Iowa

Wearing a 'Make America Great Again' hat, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., speaks to a reporter on Capitol Hill

‘What creates momentum this close to a presidential contest, in which Trump and Biden are running, in which Trump is up, is explaining to Republicans how we can prepare the battlefield for the Trump administration,’ he said. 

'Not how we can limit the decisions based on the Trump administration by putting beyond it.’

Trump said Friday he was 'not a fan' of FISA, but gave Johnson some leeway during a press conference with the Speaker at Mar-a-Lago.

'I'm not a big fan of FISA. But I told everybody I said do what you want,' Trump said.

He appeared eager to tackle more reforms in the future, if he won his election for president.

'They put a lot of checks and balances on and I guess it's down to two years now so that it would come due in the early part of my administration,' he said.