“What did the President know, and
when did he know it?” These are the questions that Senator Howard Baker
(R-Tenn.) wanted to know. He was a member of the committee assigned to
investigate the Watergate scandal and President Richard Nixon’s involvement in
it. People are asking the same questions now concerning Barack Obama and the
unmasking of Donald Trump, his family, and his associates.
In mid-February 2017 Michael Flynn
was forced to resign as National Security Advisor to President Trump due to
information “leaked” about his connection to Russia. In early March 2017
President Donald Trump tweeted that Obama had tapped his wires in Trump Towers,
and the lame stream media went wild in their reports. Of course, Obama did not
physically tap the wires in Trump Towers. Most of us can understand that he did
not. We also understand that there was no need for him to do it because there
are not that many “wires” left because of modern technology and cell phones. All
of us with common sense understand that Trump meant that he had been surveilled
by the Obama administration. Facts slowly emerged that the surveillance started
before Trump became the Republican nominee for President and up until his
inauguration.
Mollie Hemingway at the Federalist
gave an outline of events. Two weeks ago Representative Devin Nunes, the chair
of the House Intelligence Committee, reported that he had “seen dozens of
reports featuring unmasked information on Trump and his associates and family
members.” The information came from “incidental collection during FISA
surveillance,” but it had “little to no foreign intelligence value.” He
indicated that the unmasking may have been legal but the leaking of information
to the press was definitely illegal.
On Monday, April 3, 2017, according
to Hemingway, Eli Lake at Bloomberg Views gave more information. He reported
that sources had told him that Susan Rice, the National Security Advisor for
Obama’s second term, “requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw
intelligence reports on dozens of occasions.” This information was discovered
during a review of unmasking procedures conducted by Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the
National Security Council’s senior director for intelligence. Rice first denied
knowing anything about the unmasking. No one believed her because she has a
history of lying. She later admitted to unmasking because there are computer
logs at the White House proving that she did it.
Even though “many in the media are
attempting to downplay, denigrate and distract,” Hemingway lists five reasons
why the media should be covering this story. Here are her five reasons: (1)
Susan Rice changed her story dramatically over a two-week period; (2) “The
unmasking was related to political information;” (3) Susan Rice had daily
access to Obama because she worked in the White House; (4) The reports on Susan
Rice’s involvement supports the claims made by Nunes; (5) Questions remain
about civil liberties.
This unmasking and sharing of
information on private Americans is a big problem because the Constitution
guarantees privacy to Americans. The unmasking done by Susan Rice did not
involve national security. If the security of the nation was involved, the
unmasking would have been done by the agencies involved, not the advisor to the
President. An even bigger problem to me is the number of people involved in the
unmasking. Apparently, Susan Rice was not the only person involved in the
unmasking. She admits to unmasking at least one member of the Trump team, but
she denies unmasking Flynn’s name. She says that she “leaked nothing to nobody.”
The question comes back to Barack
Obama: “What did the President know, and when did he know it?”
