Source In White House Counsel's Office Says Susan Rice Requested Dozens of "Unmaskings" of Trump Officials Caught Up In Alleged "Incidental" Surveillance, Starting As Soon as He Became the Nominee

Source In White House Counsel's Office Says Susan Rice Requested Dozens of "Unmaskings" of Trump Officials Caught Up In Alleged "Incidental" Surveillance, Starting As Soon as He Became the Nominee

The National Security Council's senior director for intelligence, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, was conducting the review, according to two U.S. officials who spoke with Bloomberg View on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. 

In February Cohen-Watnick discovered Rice's multiple requests to unmask U.S. persons in intelligence reports that related to Trump transition activities. He brought this to the attention of the White House General Counsel's office, who reviewed more of Rice's requests and instructed him to end his own research into the unmasking policy. 

The intelligence reports were summaries of monitored conversations -- primarily between foreign officials discussing the Trump transition, but also in some cases direct contact between members of the Trump team and monitored foreign officials. 

One U.S. official familiar with the reports said they contained valuable political information on the Trump transition such as whom the Trump team was meeting, the views of Trump associates on foreign policy matters and plans for the incoming administration. Rice did not respond to an email seeking comment on Monday morning... Rice herself has not spoken directly on the issue of unmasking. 

Last month when she was asked on the "PBS NewsHour" about reports that Trump transition officials, including Trump himself, were swept up in incidental intelligence collection, Rice said: "I know nothing about this," adding, "I was surprised to see reports from Chairman Nunes on that account today."