Report: House Intel panel targeting Susan Rice

(NationalSentinel) Corruption:Â The House Intelligence Committee is looking into whether former President Obama’s national security advisor, Susan Rice, violated any laws when she requested members of the Trump campaign be unmasked in intelligence reports.

As reported by theÂ Washington Times, a Justice Department rule from 2008 is at the center of the panel’s overall investigation into Russia election interference:

Justice Department rules limit supplying politically sensitive information to the White House, a review of attorney general guidelines for domestic FBI intelligence investigations has found.

A prohibition contained in the 2008 guidelines is a central focus of the ongoing House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence probe into Russian election meddling and unauthorized disclosures of sensitive U.S. intelligence communications intercepts.

The prohibitions in guidelines may explain why the FBI so far has refused to cooperate with the House committeeâ€™s investigation. Specifically, as of Wednesday, the FBI still has not responded to a request for documents that could explain how the White House was able to “unmask” the names of Americans incidentally spied on during a foreign electronic intelligence operation that ran from November to January â€” the same months the Trump transition team was working.

The committee is attempting to find out if Rice’s activities were part of a clandestine political operation to undermine the incoming Trump administration, using legitimate foreign surveillance as cover.

Rice is expected to appear before the committee in the coming weeks to explain the unmasking in what the chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has described as improper surveillance of the Trump campaign.