It was a conspiracy that Fox News portrayed as one of the greatest — if not
the greatest — political scandals in American history.
Tucker Carlson called it a “domestic spying operation” that was "hidden under the pretext of national security."
Laura Ingraham characterized top Obama administration officials as having been "exposed."
And Sean Hannity flatly declared it to be the “biggest abuse of power, corruption scandal” the country had ever seen.
That was back in May. This week, however, the conspiracy theory collapsed when
The Washington Post reported that a Justice Department investigation into the supposed scandal quietly ended with no charges.
The narrative pushed by Fox News was centered on the routine intelligence practice of “unmasking.” A document
declassified in May by then-acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, who
has been criticized by Democrats and career intelligence officials as the most overtly political person to serve in the position, revealed that several Obama administration officials had “unmasked” a US citizen mentioned in intelligence reports.
