Ian Prior: Flynn unmasking done more damage to DOJ, FBI than anything since Watergate
Ian Prior weighs in on former Obama officials who requested to unmask Michael Flynn
Although Democrats and the liberal media argue that the "unmasking" process happens "all the time," the case involving former national security adviser Gen. Michael Flynn's case was "very different," former Department of Justice spokesman Ian Prior asserted Thursday.
In an interview on "Fox & Friends" with host Steve Doocy, Prior said it was interesting for him to see pushback from the left but noted that there is an "important distinction to make" between a regular unmasking and the decisions made by Obama-era officials just before a new administration came in.
"Well, maybe they do [happen]. But they don't happen all the time with an incoming administration ordered directly from the White House," he argued.
In this Dec. 1, 2017, file photo, Michael Flynn, center, arrives at federal court in Washington. A judge set a sentencing hearing for Michael Flynn after rejecting arguments from the former Trump administration national security adviser that prosecutors had withheld evidence favorable to his case. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
"How many times has the White House ordered unmasking related to an investigation, a baseless investigation I might add, into an incoming administration?" Prior asked. "I mean...I can't imagine that's ever happened before."
"And that's why I say this is the worst thing since Watergate," he continued, "and perhaps worse than that. I mean, this takes dirty tricks and takes it to a whole new sophisticated level."
Top Obama administration members purportedly requested to "unmask" the identity of Flynn during the presidential transition period, according to a list of names from that controversial process made public on Wednesday.
Flynn's case returned to the national spotlight after the DOJ moved to dismiss charges against him of lying to the FBI about those conversations, despite a guilty plea that he later sought to withdraw.
Trump allies claim Flynn was wrongly targeted, and have suggested high-level involvement in an effort to bring him down. Democrats, however, claim the DOJ's decision to abandon the case shows how it has become politicized.
Prior argued that the events surrounding Flynn's case bust the narrative that the intelligence and law enforcement communities are apolitical and above reproach.
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"We have heard for years from Democrats and the media these themes. And, the fact of the matter is while rank and file may be the leadership of these institutions, [they] can easily take [their jobs] from doing a service to this country to doing a service for their own personal means. And, I think that's what we have seen here."
"This seems more like a season of 'House of Cards,'" he remarked further. "I mean it is absolutely deplorable what they did."
Fox News' Tyler Olson and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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