Obama administration's unmasking scandal heats up

Washington Free Beacon:

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.

The subsequent leak of this classified information to the press has further fueled accusations that the former administration aimed to smear Trump’s team.

Congressional leaders and other insiders told the Washington Free Beacon that the investigation into the Obama administration's unmasking campaign is gaining greater steam, even as the federal probe into alleged collusion with Russia drags on.

"The misuse of intelligence information by members of the Obama administration is a serious issue that requires an exhaustive investigation and accountability," Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), chair of House Subcommittee on National Security, told the Free Beacon.

"From the unmasking exploits of Obamaphiles like Samantha Power to the leaking of FISA [Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act] material, this behavior has eroded public trust in America's intelligence apparatus and has imperiled the future authorization of key counterterrorism programs," said DeSantis, who has named other top Obama officials, such as former White House National Security Council member Ben Rhodes, as primary suspects in the subsequent leaks of this information. "Congress has a lot of work that needs to get done."
...

The leaks of information gained from the unmasking are a crime that needs attention.  I think they may need their own special prosecutors.  They should also be looking into what President Obama's knowledge of the unmasking might be and whether he personally approved it.