Hannity: Why did the Obama administration's unmasking requests jump threefold from 2013 to 2016?
As Michael Flynn spoke with his future counterparts from all over the world about the Trump transition, the Obama administration was listening.
Sean Hannity opened his show Wednesday by reacting to the newly released list of Obama administration officials who requested to "unmask" the identity of former national security adviser Michael Flynn in intelligence reports during the Trump transition.
"Why in the hell did the Obama administration’s unmasking requests jump threefold from 9,500 in 2013 to 30,355 in 2016?" Hannity asked.
LIST OF OFFICIALS WHO SOUGHT TO 'UNMASK' FLYNN RELEASED
"Now, we know one part of the massive increase was targeted at Donald Trump campaign adviser, an incoming national security adviser, a man who has served this country honorably for 33 years in combat zones, and that’s General Michael Flynn," the host added. "We now know he was unmasked a whopping 48 times by roughly two dozen Obama officials between Election Day, November 8, 2016 and the president's inauguration, January 20, 2017."
The host explained that the term 'unmasking' refers largely to the process of identifying an American citizen whose communications have been picked up by U.S. intelligence officials during surveillance on a foreign government, person or other entity.
In Flynn's case, he was unmasked over his calls with then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak, which were picked up on wiretaps. That information was then leaked to The Washington Post in early 2017.
"Clearly, as Flynn spoke with his future counterparts from all over the world ... the Obama Administration was listening," said Hannity, who added that unmasking "should never, ever be used for a nefarious political purpose to spy on Americans and take away your privacy, your civil liberties and constitutional rights."
The list of officials who requested the "unmasking" of Flynn was declassified Wednesday and includes then-Vice President Joe Biden.
On Tuesday, Biden denied having any knowledge of the Flynn investigation, forcing his Director of Rapid Response Andrew Bates to issue a statement Wednesday downplaying the latest revelations.
"Joe is lying," Hannity asserted, "Why? Because Joe unmasked Flynn himself and Biden might want to start thinking about getting his story straight, if he is capable.
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"By the way, he’s kind of always been a liar... he’ll always be a liar," Hannity said of Biden. "The only difference now is, he’s having a real hard time keeping his lies straight ... because if you want to be a good liar, it usually takes a good memory and a certain level of alertness that Joe seems to be lacking."
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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