{UAH} TRUMP TRANSITION MEMBERS WERE UNDER SURVEILLANCE DUING OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

Nunes: Trump transition members were under surveillance during Obama administration

Democrat Schiff expresses ‘grave concerns’ with Nunes’ actions.

By Austin Wright

03/22/17 01:19 PM EDT

Updated 03/22/17 04:51 PM EDT

 

Updated 4:48 p.m.: Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, blasted the panel’s Republican chairman in a statement over his claim that the Trump transition team was under surveillance. Schiff said the chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, had not shared the information with him that led Nunes to make the claims — and said it was inappropriate for Nunes to brief the White House on them. “If accurate, this information should have been shared with members of the committee, but it has not been,” Schiff said. “The Chairman also shared this information with the White House before providing it to the committee, another profound irregularity, given that the matter is currently under investigation. I have expressed my grave concerns with the Chairman that a credible investigation cannot be conducted this way.” Schiff noted that claims made by Nunes do “not suggest — in any way — that the President was wiretapped by his predecessor." This story will be updated.

Original story:
Members of the Donald Trump transition team, possibly including Trump himself, were under U.S. government surveillance following November’s presidential election, House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) told reporters Wednesday.

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Nunes said the monitoring appeared to be done legally as a result of what's called "incidental collection," but said he was concerned because it was not related to the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the election and was widely disseminated across the intelligence community.

“I have seen intelligence reports that clearly show that the president-elect and his team were, I guess, at least monitored,” Nunes told reporters. “It looks to me like it was all legally collected, but it was essentially a lot of information on the president-elect and his transition team and what they were doing.”

Nunes said he is heading to the White House later Wednesday to brief Trump on what he has learned, which he said came from “sources who thought that we should know it.” He said he was trying to get more information by Friday from the FBI, CIA and NSA.

Nunes described the surveillance as most likely being “incidental collection.” This can occur when a person inside the United States communicates with a foreign target of U.S. surveillance. In such cases, the identities of U.S. citizens are supposed to be kept secret — but can be “unmasked” by intelligence officials under certain circumstances.

Nunes said his new information appears to show that additional members of the Trump transition team — beyond former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — were unmasked. This means they were identified in U.S. intelligence reports.

 

 

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