Donald Trump's press secretary chides media for not probing 'Obamagate'

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany chided press corps for not probing the conspiracy theories that suggest the Obama administration tried to undermine Donald Trump’s election campaign. During a press briefing, a reporter from One America News, a conservative news channel, asked whether the US President was considering “pardoning” his predecessor, who hasn’t been convicted of any crime, for “Obamagate” conspiracy.

McEnany latched on to the opportunity to target the former President and journalists who have avoided questioning Trump’s predecessor for prima facie baseless claims. She said that “any good journalist would want to answer why people were unmasked”, referring to the “unmasking” of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

”Did anyone take it upon themselves to pose any questions about Michael Flynn and unmasking to president Obama’s spokesperson? Not a single journalist has posed that question,” said McEnany.

'Unmasking' of Flynn

The term “unmasking” is often used by the intelligence agencies which refers to revealing the identity of a person on a monitored communication. The practise of “unmasking” the identity is legal in the United States and often done when intelligence officials want to make sense of the information they receive during the surveillance. US officials unmasked the identity of Flynn after they determined it was required to probe whether he violated the law while discussing Russian sanctions with someone.

Read: US Justice Department Drops Charges Against Donald Trump's Former NSA Michael Flynn

After the US Department of Justice dropped criminal charges against the former NSA, Trump attacked Obama and his aides including presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for alleging that he had conspired with Russia to win the 2016 elections. Biden and the other officials had full authority to seek the name of the unidentified American in the reports — it turned out to be Flynn — and did so through proper channels, according to Trump administration documents.

Read: What Is Obamagate? Here's What US President Donald Trump's Latest Attack Theory Entails