Lawmakers Zero In on Obama Unmasking Scandal

Senior congressional leaders are renewing their focus on an investigation into efforts by the Obama administration to obtain highly classified intelligence information on Trump administration allies in what many allege was an effort to undermine the president and his national security team, according to conversations with multiple senior U.S officials familiar with the situation.

The recent admission by Obama administration National Security Adviser Susan Rice that she requested the unmasking of Trump associates named in highly classified intelligence community reports has placed renewed attention on an investigation into why this information was obtained and then leaked to the press.

In addition to Rice, former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power and other senior Obama officials made hundreds of similar unmasking requests in what many allege was a campaign to handicap the incoming Trump administration's national security agenda, according to multiple sources familiar with the ongoing investigation into the matter.

The unmasking requests—a score of which were made in the final year of the Obama administration—could be just one part of a larger effort by the former administration to monitor the activities of Trump associates in the lead up to the 2016 election, according to these sources.

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