The surveillance that led to the identification of American citizens began before Donald Trump was the Republican nominee for president, Fox News reported Friday.

Our sources: This surveillance that led to the unmasking of private names of American citizens started before Trump was the GOP nominee. — Adam Housley (@adamhousley) March 31, 2017

Intelligence officials told Fox News that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes knows the name of the person who contributed in unmasking particular individuals and likely knows the name of the person who ordered the unmasking of certain people.

Additionally, according to the report, Nunes has known about this information since January and attempted to view at some of the other intelligence agencies, but was prevented from doing so. So he went to go view the data at a secure facility on White House property.

Also…I am told that House and Senate intelligence chairmen have regularly gone to White House offices 2 see raw intelligence in the past — Adam Housley (@adamhousley) March 31, 2017

The White House invited Capitol Hill lawmakers Friday to to view the information that members of its staff had found relating to surveillance of the the 2016 election.

“Our view was that the smart move was to make all the materials available to the chairman and the ranking member of the relevant committees,” Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during the White House briefing Thursday. “We are focused on the substance of it and I think the goal is to make sure people have the substance that are looking into this.”

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