Sen. Lee says there needs to be investigations into Flynn unmasking
Obama officials who requested Flynn unmasking revealed; Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee weighs in.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told "The Story" Wednesday that he was "troubled" by the release of documents showing top Obama administration officials -- including then-Vice President Joe Biden -- requested to "unmask" the identity of Michael Flynn in intelligence reports during the presidential transition period.
"I wasn't shocked by the people who were on [the list]," Lee said, "but I was, however, a little troubled by the idea that after 230 years in which we have had peaceful transitions of power between one administration and the other, you've got what appears potentially to have been an effort by one administration to interfere with the next legitimately elected administration's efforts to conduct foreign policy."
LIST OF OFFICIALS WHO SOUGHT TO 'UNMASK' FLYNN RELEASED
"This is simply stunning," Lee added. "They didn't raise it with the leadership of the incoming Trump administration. That could support the proposition that maybe what they were trying to do was render less effective the incoming Trump administration. Maybe they didn't like what the incoming Trump administration might do because they were philosophically wired a little differently. This is part of what is so disappointing about all of this."
"The fact that you've got an outgoing administration threatening ... criminal prosecution against [the] incoming national security adviser is disturbing."
On Tuesday, Biden denied having any knowledge of the Flynn investigation, forcing his Director of Rapid Response Andrew Bates to issue what Lee called an "inexplicably weird" statement Wednesday downplaying the latest revelations.
"This is really troubling stuff," said Lee, who called for a "very significant investigation," including "an abundance of Congressional hearings on this issue."
"The fact that you've got an outgoing administration threatening or perhaps contemplating criminal prosecution against [the] incoming national security adviser is disturbing," he said. "These have real consequences in the real world for real people and I think they should be ashamed of themselves."
Lee also called on the Senate to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process in a substantial way, adding the FBI's mishandling of Flynn's case has "tarnished" the record of the "most revered law enforcement institution in the entire world."
"We need change," Lee told host Martha MacCallum. "What we have seen is the most revered law enforcement institution in the entire world, the FBI, has been tarnished. I hope, in fact, I strongly suspect that these are the actions of a small handful of rogue actors within the FBI.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"We've got a big problem" he continued, "a problem that has manifested itself several times in the last few years alone and we are going to have to have some major structural reform to make sure that no one person is capable of abusing this much power."
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.