I believe that without your newfound source, the FBI and possibly the NSA would not have produced the intelligence report or product to which you referred in your media interviews. Bob Woodward said there were at most 20 people in the DOJ that had the authority to unmask US citizens caught up in “incidental” contact. My first question to Comey would be, “Director Comey, who authorized the unmasking of the individuals copntained in the intelligence product I supplied to you earlier.” My second question would be, “When will you know?” I’d ask the same two questions of NSA director Rogers. I would then recess the committee until the name was produced.
I put incidental in quotes, because I do not think it was truly incidental. The actions of the Obama administration screams “Reverse targeting.” “’Reverse targeting,’ (is) the targeting of a U.S. person under the guise or pretext of targeting a foreigner, (which) is expressly prohibited. https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/nsas-backdoor-search-loophole.
What I don’t understand is the Obama/Comey relationship. On the one hand, Comey seemed to be going against Obama’s wishes by investigating (and then re-investigating) Hillary Clinton. On the other hand, Comey seems to be doing Obama’s bidding by surveilling the incoming Trump administration by arguably employing illegal reverse targeting and then illegally unmasking and employing no minimization techniques and including these unmasked individuals in a widely-distributed intelligence product. I think the Obama order authorizing wide distribution of intelligence has to be part of a coverup. Perhaps Obama was not adverse to the Hillary investigation. Perhaps he relished it. Forced to take Hilary on as Secretary of State and share the spotlight with her may have soured his already acerbic view of her. Of course in addition to violation of national security laws, this would mean that both participated in a criminal conspiracy.