Yeah those claims are a slanderous distraction. The Patriot Act gave the government legal jurisdiction to spy on citizens because the terms were so vague, they just didn't reveal that was part of the intent at the time. Also the draft of the bill that was presented to Congress to vote on had omitted several, incredibly powerful words that mysteriously appeared in later versions of the bill once it was passed. What a weird coincidence. /s

But part of Snowden's whistleblowing was unveiling that the NSA was spying on citizens before the Patriot Act was passed. The Bush administration had already made an executive order for Congress to sign off on it. Which by the way, Nancy Pelosi was a part of. Even more reason to dislike her.

Edit to clarify: I learned all of this from a documentary I watched a ways back, but I don't remember the name of it. I may be slightly misremembering some of the facts, take that as you may.