UNMASKING REQUESTS NUMBER IN THOUSANDS ACROSS ADMINISTRATIONS“As acting director of national intelligence, I saw the Democrats’ entire case for Russia collusion, and what I saw made me sick to my stomach,” Grenell said during a GOP convention speech Wednesday night. “The Obama-Biden administration secretly launched a surveillance operation on the Trump campaign, and silenced the many brave intelligence officials who spoke up against it,” Grenell continued. Grenell, earlier this year, declassified a list of Obama officials who purportedly requested to “unmask” the identity of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn. The roster featured top-ranking figures including then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-FBI Director James Comey, then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Obama’s then-chief of staff Denis McDonough. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported that, in 2019, the Trump administration had 10,012 unmasking requests fulfilled; 16,721 requests fulfilled in 2018, and 9,529 requests fulfilled in 2017.

Source: Fox News August 27, 2020 03:00 UTC