"I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions, the intelligence community incidentally collected information about US citizens involved in the Trump transition," Congressman David Nunes, Chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence told reporters at a news conference.
The startling revelation by Nunes adds a new dimension to the allegations that the Trump Towers was being wiretapped at the direction of the then US President Barack Obama during the election campaign last year.
"I have confirmed that additional names of Trump transition team members were unmasked. Finally, I want to be clear, none of this surveillance was related to Russia or the investigation of Russian activities or the Trump team," Nunes said.
The White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that Nunes was scheduled to brief the President Donald Trump later on the findings of the investigations.