Section 702 Is In the Spotlight

Weeks ago, President Trump claimed that former President Obama had "wiretapped" Trump Tower. This is not true. But the claim has prompted Rep. Devin Nunes, chair of the committee investigating Russia's role in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign, to offer what he says is evidence of some kind of surveillance at Trump Tower.

Nunes may be referring to a kind of legal, widespread collection of communications authorized by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Intelligence officials are meant to "mask" the identities of Americans whose communications are swept up in this kind of surveillance, but there are many loopholes -- and Nunes appears to be concerned that Trump associates were improperly "unmasked." 

Elizabeth Goitein is co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU. She talks to Bob about how Section 702 is back in the spotlight -- and how Nunes' concern about the law contrasts with his support of it in the past.