Hutch Starskey
Diamond Member
- Mar 24, 2015
- 35,391
- 9,170
Redirect NoticeI disagree.No, that's not how it works. If, in the course of legal surveillance of someone else, you inadvertently pick up someone else incriminating themselves, that's completely legal evidence.
They didn't exceed their scope by listening in when Flynn called the Russian ambassador, because Flynn's call was incidental to their legal investigation.
It is my understanding that they still need court approval to unmask the U.S. Person (which is a term of art). They are supposed to completely ignore WHO the U.S. Person is and only look at it for context regarding the foreign agent (who can be tapped without a warrant).
But if the NSA or another agency with which NSA is sharing the information, like the FBI, wants to identify the person, it can do so if it believes it's necessary in the course of investigations or have probable cause to indicate there may be criminal conduct involved.