The spokeswoman for the DOJ, Kerri Kupec, announced on Fox News tonight that Attorney General Bill Barr has appointed a US Attorney to investigate the practice of unmasking, both before and after the 2016 election:
Attorney General Bill Barr has tapped US Attorney John Bash (Texas) to review the practice of ‘unmasking’ before and after the 2016 presidential election. @KerriKupecDOJ said AG Barr determined certain aspects of ‘unmasking’ needed further review.
— Jake Gibson (@JakeBGibson) May 28, 2020
AG spox tells @seanhannity that Bill Barr has appointed another US Attorney to probe issue of interest to POTUS. At Barr request, @USAttyBash will look at “unmasking.” AG spox notes unmasking “inherently isn’t wrong,” but “frequency” & “reasoning behind unmasking” can problematic
— Matt Zapotosky (@mattzap) May 28, 2020
.@KerriKupecDOJ says on Fox that AG Barr asked @USAttyBash to launch a separate look into “unmasking,” an issue that has gotten a lot attention thanks to Flynn. Bash's work will be in support of Durham's ongoing criminal investigation into the roots of Mueller's Russia inquiry.
— Katie Benner (@ktbenner) May 28, 2020
Here’s more from Fox News:
Attorney General Bill Barr has asked U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas John Bash to review the practice of “unmasking” before and after the 2016 presidential election, a controversy that has picked up steam after the Justice Department moved to drop charges against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, the DOJ announced.
Republican lawmakers have demanded more information about the extent of the practice after a previously clandestine list of Obama-era officials who sought to reveal what turned out to be the identity of Michael Flynn in intelligence reports was recently released.
Kerri Kupec, a spokesperson for the Justice Department said on Fox News’ ‘Hannity’ Wednesday that U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is reviewing the origins of the Trump Russia Investigation, was looking into “unmasking” but that Barr determined that certain aspects of the practice needed further review, and Bash has been assigned to do so.
“The frequency and who was unmasking whom, and what happened after President Trump was elected as well,” Kupec said.
The DOJ spokesperson also affirmed that the Washington D.C. appeals court has invited the DOJ to weigh in on the Flynn case, “and we will.”
Kupec maintains that the DOJ has the ability to drop the case against Flynn– President Trump’s former National Security Adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI back 2017 about his Russian contacts– and are weighing the possibility.
“We have the prosecutorial discretion to make that decision.”
Hopefully all of these investigations that Barr is overseeing will yield fruit some time soon, because I know most of you are getting quite restless, as am I. But I am being patient because I do believe in Barr, that he is a man of the law and won’t let things slide.