Fitton: Judicial Watch Sues to Expose Full Truth Behind Obama Unmasking/Spy Abuses

The term “unmasking” refers to the practice of political appointees obtaining the identities of American citizens referenced in intelligence surveillance of foreign nationals.

Unmasking has a legitimate purpose, but in the final months of the Obama administration, his lieutenants were abusing the process as they frantically looked for dirt on the Trump campaign.

Reportedly, one of the worst abusers was Obama’s U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power. In 2017, it was reported that Power unmasked over 260 persons in her last year as Ambassador in an attempt to uncover associates of President Trump. She “was ‘unmasking’ at such a rapid pace in the final months of the Obama administration that she averaged more than one request for every working day in 2016,” even seeking “information in the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration.”

We have now filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the State Department over requests by Power to unmask the identities of U.S. citizens whose names appear in intelligence reports concerning Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:20-cv-01729)).

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