WASHINGTON—Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) has said that a key defense bill will include language mandating that the FBI inform federal candidates of any counterintelligence probes that it launches.

In a Dec. 3 post on X, she credited the development to a conversation with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and President Donald Trump late on Dec. 2.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House and Johnson regarding Stefanik’s comments.

Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was targeted by the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which was probing alleged links to the Russian government.

More recently, the FBI took part in the Arctic Frost probe of challenges to the 2020 presidential election. Trump and eight Republican senators were among those investigated.

“This is a significant legislative win delivered against the illegal weaponization of the deep state,” Stefanik wrote on X.

Stefanik, who serves as chairwoman of House Republican Leadership, previously faulted Johnson for what she said was an effort to block the provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

She wrote in a Dec. 1 post on X that the exclusion of that language would lead her to vote “no” on the critical annual bill.

In a Dec. 2 post on X, she described a briefing she said confirmed Johnson was working to prevent her provision from making it into the NDAA.

Stefanik accused Johnson of “siding with Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) against Trump Republicans to block this provision to protect the deep state.”

Raskin serves as the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FBI and its parent, the Department of Justice.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), joined by his wife, Kelly Lary, speaks during the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the West Front Lawn of the Capitol in Washington on Dec. 2, 2025. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)

Johnson contested Stefanik’s claims during a Dec. 2 press briefing.

“I don’t exactly know why Elise won’t just call me,” he told a reporter, saying Stefanik’s proposed provision had not reached him because it had not passed through a previous procedural step involving the Judiciary Committee.

The annual NDAA lays out the fiscal year’s Pentagon spending.

The House and Senate passed their versions of the NDAA earlier in the year. A final text reconciling the two could be released during the first week of December.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, predicted last month that the final bill would get a vote in December.

The FBI investigation provision has not been the only driver of internal Republican debate ahead of NDAA finalization.

Lawmakers have considered incorporating a provision that would preempt state-level regulations of artificial intelligence—something similar to one proposal for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The Senate ultimately eliminated that language from the reconciliation mega-bill.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said on Dec. 2 that the NDAA will not include language barring states from regulating AI.