Then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power denied unmasking people in 2016, but recently-released documents show that she unmasked former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn at least five times that year, according to Breitbart News.
In October 2019, a journalist asked Power after an event at which she had spoken why she decided to unmask “so many individuals” in 2016. “It’s false…completely false,” she replied. She then ignored his questions as he followed her down a hallway.
Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell recently unclassified names of former Obama officials who requested the unmasking of the name of a U.S. person in an intelligence document that revealed Flynn’s name. Power requested unmaskings five times in 2016 and once in 2017 before the Obama administration left office.
After Flynn spoke with then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak on December 29, 2016, that call was illegally leaked and led to Flynn’s resignation.