Samantha Power Is Now a Key Figure in Unmasking Probe

She was the Ambassador to the UN. She wasn't an intelligence analyst and wasn't law enforcement.

She just didn't have any appropriate reason to be requesting the unmaskings she requested.

Power appears to be central to efforts by top Obama administration officials to identify individuals named in classified intelligence community reports related to Trump and his presidential transition team, according to multiple sources.

...

Power's role in this unmasking effort is believed to be particularly questionable given her position as the U.N. ambassador, a post that does not typically require such sensitive unmasking activities, according to former U.S. officials and other sources familiar with the matter.

"Unmasking is not a regular occurrence--absolutely not a weekly habit. It is rare, even at the National Security Council, and ought to be rarer still for a U.N. ambassador," according to one former senior U.S. official who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.

...

"That's just not the sort of thing that she should have been concerned about, unless she was playing the role of political operative with the help of the intelligence community," [a] source said. "It gives away what was actually going on: the Obama administration was operating in a pervasive culture of impunity and using the intelligence community against their political opponents."

Rep. DeSantis continues showing spine:

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"I think Congress and some members on the Intelligence Committee can call Ben Rhodes to testify," DeSantis said. "He may be able to invoke executive privilege from when Obama was president, but he definitely can't do that in any interactions he's had since then."

Whether or not they subpeona him is up to Trent Gowdy -- and whether he has a spine, or just wants to get along with his Good Friends.

posted by Ace at 06:57 PM

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