Gowdy: Members of Trump’s Family Were Unmasked on Inauguration Day

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American Greatness

Besides General Michael Flynn, many Americans on President Trump’s transition team, as well as members of thepresident’s family were unmasked during the transition period in late 2016 and early 2017, Republicans say.

The publication of a list of top Obama officials who sought to unmask retired General Michael Flynn sent shock-waves throughout Washington on Wednesday, and Republicans are making it clear that the incriminating list is only the tip of the iceberg.

Unmasking refers to the disclosure of names of Americans whose communications are incidentally picked up in U.S. intelligence surveillance.

While it is not illegal for members of an administration to make unmasking requests, the unprecedented volume of unmasking requests made by Team Obama during the 2016 election year strongly suggest that they were engaging in political espionage.

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) released the list of Obama officials who requested to “unmask” the identity of Trump’s incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn during the transition period. In one instance, Flynn’s phone call with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak was intercepted by U.S. spies, and his identity in the call was unmasked and illegally leaked to the media.

It is a felony to leak classified information from intercepted material to the media, which is what was done with the Flynn phone call.