President Donald Trump threw a wrench into bipartisan efforts to renew the federal government’s widely abused warrantless spying powers on Wednesday by demanding it be paired with the passage of Republicans’ voter suppression legislation.

In a Truth Social post, Trump announced that he would not approve the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) “without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it,” a reference to Republican-backed legislation that would create nationwide voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements.

Passing the SAVE America Act, which critics have warned could be used to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, would require scrapping the filibuster in the US Senate, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has said that there are not enough votes in his caucus to make this happen.

This is now the second time Trump has derailed renewal of FISA’s Section 702, which allows for warrantless spying on noncitizens located outside the US. Intelligence agencies have routinely used the authority, which lapsed over the weekend, to collect Americans’ data without a warrant.

Earlier this month, Trump appointed Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte to be his acting director of national intelligence (DNI). Many critics expressed horror at Pulte’s appointment, given that he has no experience working in intelligence and has been instrumental in pushing the US Department of Justice to prosecute the president’s political enemies.

This led many Senate Democrats, including Senate Intelligence Committee vice-chairperson Mark Warner (D-Va.), to withdraw their support for a FISA extension until the president nominated a more acceptable permanent replacement for outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard.

FISA renewal appeared to be back on track last week after Trump nominated Jay Clayton, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to be DNI.

However, in the same Truth Social post where Trump announced his intent to veto a FISA extension without the SAVE America Act, the president said that he was “canceling” Clayton’s scheduled Wednesday Senate hearing.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) announced shortly after Trump’s post that the hearing for Clayton would still take place unless the president formally pulled the nominee.

“Jay Clayton is a pending nominee before the Intelligence Committee,” Cotton wrote in a social media post. “We will proceed with his hearing as scheduled unless the president directs him not to appear or withdraws his nomination.”

According to The New York Times, the latest chaos and drama caused by Trump “all but guarantee that Mr. Pulte… would take the job at the end of this week as the acting director of national intelligence.”

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