There was surveillance of the Trump transition team by the Obama administration and it was legal
In breaking news House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) told reporters this afternoon that members of the Donald Trump transition team, possibly including Trump himself, were under surveillance during the Obama administration following November’s election.
The information was presented to Nunes by an unknown source and it is not clear how he got the information. But it was done legally and seems as if it was solid information.
According to Nunes the surveillance appears to have been legal, incidental collection and that it does not appear to have been related to concerns over collusion with Russia.
“Details about U.S. persons involved in the incoming administration with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in intelligence community reports.”
The information was “legally brought to him by sources who thought we should know it,” Nunes said, though he provided little detail on the source.
Nunes also said that “additional names” of Trump transition officials had been unmasked in the intelligence reports. He indicated that Trump’s communications may have been swept up.
According to The Hill, Nunes said Wednesday that it was unclear whether the information incidentally collected originated in Trump Tower.
The revelation comes in the wake of the committee’s explosive hearing on Monday, at which FBI Director James Comey confirmed that the bureau has been investigating Russia’s election hacking since July, which includes probing possible coordination between members of Trump’s presidential campaign and Moscow.
The meeting represented the panel’s first open hearing on its investigation into Russia’s election meddling and also featured testimony from NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers.
According to Nunes he will be going to the White House later Wednesday to brief the Trump administration on what he has learned, which he said came from “sources.”
