The latest distraction from the disaster that is the Trump administration

Lord knows there's a new one nearly every day.  This must be what Trump is calling "Obamagate".

Two Republican senators on Wednesday released a declassified list from acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell naming the Obama administration officials who asked to "unmask" the identity of Michael Flynn when he was under government surveillance.

[...]

The names of Americans swept up in wiretaps of foreign officials are generally redacted to prevent any potential for improper domestic surveillance. "Unmasking" requests are routine, but officials must provide a justification for viewing the information — like seeking to better understand the significance of a foreign intercept.

[...]

President Trump's allies have long claimed that the Russia investigation was a political hit job by the Obama administration. The presence of Joe Biden on the list is likely to be weaponized by the Trump campaign as an election-year issue, though the document itself does not show any evidence of wrongdoing.

[...]

The officials named in the list — released by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) — submitted requests to the National Security Agency between November 2016 and January 2017 to learn the identity of Flynn, who had been referred to in a foreign intelligence report.

[...]

Each request came from "an authorized recipient" of the original intelligence report who received approval through the NSA's "standard process," which includes "a review of the justification for the request."

Among the prominent names listed in the declassified report, along with the date of the first request:

Nov. 30: U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power
Dec. 2: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
Dec. 14: CIA Director John Brennan
Dec. 15: FBI Director James Comey
Jan. 12: Vice President Joe Biden

[...]

[T]here's no evidence to suggest that the senior officials on the list acted improperly in requesting to learn Flynn's identity, which would not have been shown in the intelligence report until the unmasking.

  Axios

As if that matters to Trump supporters.

"The officials listed should confirm whether they reviewed this information, why they asked for it and what they did with it, and answer many other questions that have been raised by recent revelations,” Johnson and Grassley said in a statement. "We are making this public because the American people have a right to know what happened."

So now you know.

Not to mention, he lied to Pence, as well as to the FBI, which is supposedly why he was fired from the Trump administration in the first place.  Now, apparently, that doesn't matter.  They want him back in their criminal enterprise for some reason.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Also...Rand Paul is still an idiot.

Nobody knew who it was until they asked for the name to be "unmasked".  Therefore, they couldn't be doing it "to go after a political opponent."  Imbecile.  The question to ask is:  what did they find out that made them want to know the name of this person? 

UPDATE:

UPDATE: