16 Oct 20
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/us/politics/barr-durham-unmasking-probe.html
Justice Dept. ‘Unmasking’ Review Finds No Irregularities and Is Given to Durham
The finding delivers a blow to President Trump’s push to validate the notion of a “deep state” plot to undermine him.
For years, President Trump has accused national security officials in the Obama administration of wrongdoing for making routine classified information requests called unmaskings, falsely portraying them as part of a plot to undermine him.
“The big story is the ‘unmasking and surveillance’ of people that took place during the Obama Administration,” he posted on Twitter in 2017.
But John Bash, a U.S. attorney appointed by Attorney General William P. Barr to vet the issue, found no irregularities in those unmasking requests
16 Oct 20
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/14/media/fox-news-unmasking-obamagate/index.html
Fox News portrayed it as one of the biggest scandals in American history. Then it fell apart
New York (CNN Business)It was a conspiracy that Fox News portrayed as one of the greatest — if not the greatest — political scandals in American history.
Tucker Carlson called it a "domestic spying operation" that was "hidden under the pretext of national security." Laura Ingraham characterized top Obama administration officials as having been "exposed." And Sean Hannity flatly declared it to be the "biggest abuse of power, corruption scandal" the country had ever seen.
That was back in May. This week, however, the conspiracy theory collapsed when The Washington Post reported that a Justice Department investigation into the supposed scandal quietly ended with no charges.
