Tuesday, August 1, 2017

"Former Obama Aide Ben Rhodes now a person of interest in unmasking investigation"

Via InstapunditThe House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-CA, sent the letter to the National Security Agency requesting the number of unmaskings made by Rhodes from Jan. 1, 2016 to Jan. 20, 2017, according to congressional sources who spoke with Circa. Rhodes, who worked closely with former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and was a former deputy national security adviser for strategic communications for President Obama, became a focus of the committee during its review of classified information to assess whether laws were broken regarding NSA intercepted communications of President Trump, members of his administration and other Americans before and after the election, according to congressional officials. The committee is requesting that the NSA deliver the information on Rhodes by August, 21.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, Rice and former CIA Director John Brennan have all been named in the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into the unmasking of Americans. A letter sent last week from Nunes to Dan Coats, the director of National Intelligence, suggested that top Obama aides made hundreds of unmasking requests during the 2016 presidential elections. The story, which was first reported by The Hill last week, stated that the requests were made without specific justifications as to why the unmasking was necessary. Rice and Brennan have confirmed they sought the unredacted names of Americans in NSA-sourced intelligence reports but insisted their requests were routine parts of their work and had no nefarious intentions. Power also has legal authority to unmask officials, though the practice has not reportedly been common for someone in her position. Rhodes also had legal authority to unmask Americans in NSA-source intelligence reports. But intelligence and congressional sources question the extent of the unmasking.

(Link to story)

5 comments:

edutcher said...

We'll see if this is where Trump begins to bring the hammer down.

I think he wanted to work with Congress if he could, but Songbird has convinced him it's time to get nasty.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

He should go for low hanging fruit first: Fire Koskinen.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Then dismantle Obamacare with Executive Orders.

ndspinelli said...

I have been saying for years Ben Rhodes is the worst hatchet man Obama had. His brother runs CBS news. He got CBS to fire Sheryll Attkisson when she was going after them on the Fast and Furious fuck up. Then Rhodes had Attkisson's computer hacked. He's a sleazeball but a swamp elite. He won't be touched.

Leland said...

I agree that Rhodes won't be touched, but he damn well should be. Alas, I believe he won't be touched, because as Evi has noted; Koskinen hasn't been touched. For F'sakes, how was Koskinen not sent packing on day 1? I understand why Sessions wouldn't prosecute him, but I can't come up with a good reason for Trump to allow Koskinen to take payment from taxpayers.