Numerous transition officials could have communicated with foreign ambassadors or others in the United States who were under court-authorized surveillance for counterintelligence purposes. It’s also possible that Trump transition officials were mentioned in U.S. intelligence reports even if no phone conversations, email or other communications involving those officials were intercepted by U.S. intelligence. This process, known as unmasking, could have happened with the Trump transition team. It’s unclear whether any names of Trump transition officials were unmasked in the documents Nunes referred to, or whether their identities were masked yet obvious from how they were described. The top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam B. Schiff, (D-Burbank), called for the Justice Department to appoint an independent prosecutor for the case.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 23, 2017 23:54 UTC