.@RevisitedRick did a great thread breaking down Samantha Powers' testimony.
In 2018 Gowdy (IIRC) told us she testified under oath that she did not unmask the 300 US Persons who were unmasked under her authority. #ButNothingsHappening
In 2018 Gowdy (IIRC) told us she testified under oath that she did not unmask the 300 US Persons who were unmasked under her authority. #ButNothingsHappening
At the time I speculated that while rules required such a request to unmask a US person be done in writing with a justification for doing so, maybe someone else was doing it for her.
I have suggested it was former UN Amb. staffer Curtis Ried who Susan Rice left behind at the UN.
I have suggested it was former UN Amb. staffer Curtis Ried who Susan Rice left behind at the UN.
He stayed on at the UN as assistant to Samantha Powers when Susan Rice went to the White House as Obama's National Security Advisor. Curtis Ried came to my attention because he stayed on in the Trump Admin.
He also was copied on Rice's CYA email authorizing concealing information
He also was copied on Rice's CYA email authorizing concealing information
That was the email Rice sent to herself & Ried at the last minute of the Obama Admin on 1/20/17. Noting a 1/5/17 meeting where Obama ordered Rice, Yates, & Comey to conceal national security info from the Trump Team.
I've speculated Ried wanted a get out of jail free card...
I've speculated Ried wanted a get out of jail free card...
What makes this so interesting is that Samantha Power's transcript was declassified & released. In it she definitely denies making the unmasking request.
More interestingly a redacted person was making requests for her in her name.
More interestingly a redacted person was making requests for her in her name.
She also denies that the person or people making requests for unmaskings in her name never briefed her or showed her many of the unmaskings. So either Power is lying, we have not proof, or someone was using her name to make unmasking requests & concealing it from her.
That sounds like a very risky game with a clear but redacted paper trail. Was someone in the Obama Admin using Amb. Power's authority to illegally unmask Trump Campaign & transition officials assuming no one would ever check...
That is what it looks like to me.
That is what it looks like to me.
Someone, was clearly making these unmasking requests and we have the testimony of an Obama Administration Ambassador that it was being done without her knowledge or approval. But we keep seeing that redacted person giving her reports with preemptive redactions in them.
But don't worry, the staffers told her it was alright. They were just protecting Trump & his team by spying on them to find their foreign contacts & what foreign officials were saying about them.
Spying on Trump, to protect Trump? Did she think we would believe this?
Spying on Trump, to protect Trump? Did she think we would believe this?
Interesting I will have to read more of Power's testimony. Seems Congress knew whoever was unmasking the names was passing the intel onto someone on the Obama White House National Security Counsel. Someone Power knows well enough to assume they'd never leak it!
HT @aluminumnatti
HT @aluminumnatti
