Attorney General Bill Barr wants a review of the practice of unmasking that took place before and after the 2016 election.
Barr has asked U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas John Bash to conduct the review, Fox News is reporting.
GOP lawmakers had asked for more details about the practice after a list of Obama-era officials, who tried to reveal what turned out to be the identity of former national security adviser Michael Flynn in intelligence documents, was released this month, the news network noted.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) had announced it would drop charges against Flynn after internal memos raised questions about the investigation that led to his guilty plea for lying about his Russia contacts.
In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec confirmed on Wednesday that Bash has been asked to review the unmaking practice. The review would coincide with U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
“Unmasking inherently isn't wrong, but certainly, the frequency, the motivation and the reasoning behind unmasking can be problematic, and when you're looking at unmasking as part of a broader investigation -- like John Durham's investigation -- looking specifically at who was unmasking whom, can add a lot to our understanding about motivation and big picture events," Kupec said.
Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, claimed on Sunday there was a deliberate and criminal effort within the Obama administration to expose the FBI's investigation of Flynn.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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