Throughout the four years of the previous administration, conservatives complained about, what it claimed, was a massive “unmasking” of US citizens swept up in intelligence collection of foreign communications.  They cried it was a violation of privacy and civil rights.  It was a sign of a tyrannical government overreach, they claimed.

Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requested the unmasking of individuals’ identities more than 285 times from Spring 2019 through May 2020, according to documents obtained by Politico.  This coincides with the time after the midterm elections and prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, when Trump’s reelection campaign was gearing up.  By comparison, there were just 95 requests for unmasking during the final year of the Obama Administration; none came from the office of the Secretary of State, who was then John Kerry.

Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, a Trump ally and a potential candidate for California governor, started sending requests for unmasking eight days before Trump took office in January 2017.  He was specifically looking for information on those who spoke about disgraced former Trump advisor Michael Flynn.  Grennell also specifically sought information about calls from now-President Joe Biden.

Conservative pundits and politicians have claimed that Obama Administration officials used unmasking for political purposes, to bring down the campaign of Trump, whose campaign was communicating with Russian agents.  Flynn himself was caught in a lie about talking with Russian government officials after the campaign, a fact that he repeatedly lied about.