Attorney General William Barr testified Tuesday that a U.S. attorney in Texas is investigating unmaskings of people connected with the Trump campaign dating back to the Obama administration, news that Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was surprised to hear Tuesday.
During Barr's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan, the ranking Republican on the panel, asked Barr whether an investigation is underway looking at who on the Trump campaign was targeted for surveillance by the Obama White House.
"I've asked another U.S. attorney to look into the issue of unmasking because of the high number of unmaskings and some that do not readily appear to have been in the line of normal business," Barr said.
Barr added that John Bash, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, is handling the matter. The probe encompasses "a much longer period of time" than just the final days of the Obama administration, Barr said.
Jordan seemed surprised by the revelation, but Bash's involvement in the investigation into the origins of the Russia probe was reported in May.
Jordan was not the only notable conservative to be surprised by the news. Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz, who was a GOP congressman from Utah before retiring in 2017, called it "the news of the day" on a Fox News panel during a break in the hearing.
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