PRESS RELEASE
House Intelligence Committee Issues Seven Subpoenas: Four on ‘Russiagate,’ Three on NSA, CIA, FBI ‘Unmasking’ Trump Officials
June 1, 2017 (EIRNS)—The House Intelligence Committee issued seven subpoenas yesterday, the Wall Street Journal’s Byron Tau and Shane Harris reported today. Four subpoenas were issued to probe allegations of Russian influence on Trump’s election, with two targeting Trump National Security advisor-nominee Michael Flynn and his businesses, and two more to Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and his businesses.
The other three subpoenas were issued to the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, demanding reasons for the "unmasking" of the names of Trump associates in unredacted classified reports distributed by the Obama Administration.
These are the first subpoenas issued in the "Russia probe" so far. The Democrats are pressing the probe of "Russiagate," which is a separate probe from that of the Republicans, who are eagerly pursuing the "unmasking" of Trump supporters. Since the probes are considered separate matters, Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) signed all seven subpoenas, despite his recusal, the Journal reports. The Republicans are eager to find out how names of Trump campaign officials became exposed in classified intelligence reports based on intelligence community intercepts, and how classified information about Trump was given to the media. The most recent subpoenas to the NSA, CIA, and FBI seek information on any requests made by former NSC Director Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power (!) for names to be unmasked.
The Journal devotes an editorial entirely to the former UN Ambassador, "Samantha Power Unmasked," asking, "Why would a diplomat need to know the names of Trump officials?" Noting that Obama "made a large to-do about his reforms of U.S. surveillance programs to ‘protect the privacy’ of Americans, the Journal says, "We may soon learn how that squares with his Administration’s unmasking of political opponents."
The Journal reports that the Senate Intelligence Committee will soon hear testimony, possibly next week, from fired FBI Director James Comey about whether President Trump asked him to "back off" investigating "Russiagate."
