Knowing of NSA Privacy Violations Would Have Changed House Vote, Says Lawmaker

A little late

The revelation that the National Security Agency broke court-imposed privacy rules thousands of times a year in snooping Americans' phone and email records would have changed the outcome of last month's House vote to defund the program, according to one legislator who was part of the effort.

"We only needed seven votes to switch and I think there were at least seven, probably more like 20-30, who had their concerns about the program but were prepared to give the intelligence agencies the benefit of the doubt," Rep. Morgan Griffith, Virginia Republican, told The Washington Times after the NSA rules violations came to light.