The news that former national security adviser Susan Rice was responsible for “unmasking” the identities of associates of President Trump in government surveillance reports sent shockwaves through Washington. But almost as newsworthy was the identity of the man who got the scoop: vociferous Trump booster and blogger Mike Cernovich.
Though it was Bloomberg’s foreign policy reporter Eli Lake who nailed down the details of the Rice story on the morning of April 3, the evening before Cernovich had published a short report on Medium, an Internet platform open to anyone, headlined “Susan Rice Requested Unmasking of Incoming Trump Administration Officials.” The post had a few original details, but beyond the revelation in the headline, the article was notable for its attack on New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. According to Cernovich, Haberman had been sitting on the story “in an effort to protect the reputation of former President Barack Obama.”
