DOJ Closes ‘Unmasking’ Investigation - Criminal Charges Unlikely

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Daily Caller

The Justice Department has closed its investigation into whether Obama administration officials improperly unmasked the identities of Trump associates mentioned in intelligence reports, according to a report.

 

According to The Washington Post, the investigation was recently closed and is unlikely to lead to criminal charges. A report of the investigation will also not be released, according to the newspaper, which cited government sources familiar with the matter.

Attorney General William Barr earlier this year tapped John Bash, the outgoing U.S. attorney in San Antonio, to investigate whether Obama administration officials abused the process for requesting intelligence reports on Trump associates.

The inquiry began following the release of a document that showed that 39 officials in the Obama White House and other federal agencies requested intelligence reports that had information about former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The document showed that then-Vice President Joe Biden made a request for an intelligence report that identified Flynn on Jan. 12, 2017.

Then-CIA Director John Brennan and then-FBI Director James Comey also requested intelligence reports regarding Flynn in December 2016.

U.S. officials routinely submit so-called unmasking requests in order to better understand intelligence reports. But Republicans have suggested that the Obama officials intentionally made requests for reports that mentioned Trump associates. The Republican theory was that government officials may have leaked negative information about Flynn and other Trump associates to the media.