WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. intelligence authorities questioned the Justice Department’s naming of a district attorney to penetrate the “unmasking” of names in spy-agency eavesdropping reports by Obama administration officials, stating such demands had actually not formerly been treated as criminal matters.
FILE IMAGE: U.S. Attorney General William Barr provides remarks at the U.S. Department of Justice National Opioid Top in Washington, U.S., March 6,2020 REUTERS/Erin Scott/File Picture
Chief Law Officer William Barr this week designated a U.S. lawyer in Texas, John Bash, to check out unmasking requests that exposed intercepted conversations between Michael Flynn, a former advisor to Republican President Donald Trump, and Russia’s ambassador had actually been detailed in National Security Agency reports.
Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about those discussions, though the Justice Department this month transferred to drop the charge against him, in what critics call a pattern of offering special treatment to Trump allies.
Key Trump fans in the Senate, consisting of Lindsey Graham, have taken on unmasking disclosures to require investigations into demands by assistants to former President Barack