The intelligence reports containing the unmasked names of Trump associates contained personal, detailed information about them, “like in a divorce case,” according to a Republican congressman briefed on their contents.
“This is information about their everyday lives–who they were talking with, who they were meeting, where they were going to eat, really nothing of substance of value unless you’re trying to lay out a dossier on somebody.” New York Rep. Peter King told Fox News on Wednesday. “Sort of like in a divorce case where lawyers are hired, investigators are hired just to find out what the other person is doing from morning until night and then you try to piece it together later on.”
Former national security adviser Susan Rice reportedly requested the unmasked names of Trump associates incidentally picked up by intelligence services in between Trump’s electoral victory and his inauguration. Members of the Obama administration dispersed classified intelligence on Trump associates across government during that time. Questions surrounding the unmasking include whether she did so for political purposes, and what (if any) role she may have had in the illegal leaking of those names to the media.
King’s description of the reports is similar to former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova’s description, which was confirmed by official sources with direct knowledge of the events.
“What was produced by the intelligence community at the request of Ms. Rice were detailed spreadsheets of intercepted phone calls with unmasked Trump associates in perfectly legal conversations with individuals,” diGenova told The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group.
The overheard conversations involved no illegal activity by anybody of the Trump associates, or anyone they were speaking with,” diGenova said. “In short, the only apparent illegal activity was the unmasking of the people in the calls.” (RELATED: Susan Rice ‘Like A Sister’ To Obama)
In an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday, Rice denied that she “prepared” detailed spreadsheets.
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