Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) said Congress would not reauthorize certain surveillance programs until questions about the “unmasking” of Americans’ identities under the past administration were answered.
Gowdy argued it was a different issue separate from the leaks coming out of the federal government and said he wanted to know had made the unmasking requests and why they had done so.
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“We are not going to reauthorize these surveillance programs if the American people are not satisfied their security is going to be safeguarded,” Gowdy said. “So, the leaks are one issue. The unmasking within the intelligence community — that is a privilege to be able to request that a U.S. person’s name be unmasked. And I want to know who is making that request, what is the evidentiary basis of that request and if it’s late in your tenure, like the day before you leave office, that should send off alarms and sirens as to why that person does it.”
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