List of Obama Officials Who 'Unmasked' Michael Flynn Declassified by US Intelligence
Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassifies documents
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The U.S. Government has declassified intelligence documents that expose the names of officials in former President Barack Obama's administration who "unmasked" ex-Trump advisor Michael Flynn.
Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell has decided to unseal bombshell information about Obama admin officials who were behind the campaign to frame former National Security Advisor Flynn as part of a conspiracy against President Donald Trump.
Flynn's calls with the former Russian ambassador during the presidential transition were picked up in surveillance and later leaked.
The names of those behind Flynn's "unmasking" could soon be made public, according to reports.
A new round of docs is expected to be released in the wake of last week's document dump that renewed focus on the Russia investigation and specifically the treatment of Flynn.
The unmasking concerns events that occurred between the November 2016 election and President Trump's Inauguration Day in January 2017.
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A source familiar with the intelligence reportedly told Fox News that Grenell is moving to declassify several pieces of intelligence in stages, with this being one part of it.
Asked if former President Barack Obama's name is on the list of officials involving in unmasking Flynn, the source would not say but stressed the list would make waves.
Grenell visited the Justice Department last week to meet with officials there to discuss releasing the documents, according to The Daily Caller.
ABC News first reported that Grenell visited the Justice Department to discuss the unmasking issue.
A senior intelligence official reportedly told The Daily Caller that the documents could be released “soon.”
Unmasking refers to a process where top U.S. government officials can request information on American citizens picked up during the electronic surveillance of foreigners.
Flynn was unveiled as taking part in a December 29, 2016 phone call with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
It is not illegal for U.S. officials to make unmasking requests but the information on Flynn was leaked to The Washington Post.
The move opened up the possibility that someone in the Obama administration illegally disclosed classified information.
An unidentified senior U.S. official provided details of the Flynn-Kislyak phone call to The Washington Post for a column published on Jan. 12, 2017.
The revelations set off a chain of events that led the FBI to interview Flynn at the White House on Jan. 24, 2017.
Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements in that interview regarding the substance of his conversation with Kislyak.
But he retracted that admission of guilt on Jan. 29.
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The Justice Department filed a motion to withdraw charges against Flynn on Thursday, citing the discovery of FBI documents that showed that the bureau was about to shut down a counterintelligence investigation of Flynn just before he was unmasked in the phone call with Kislyak.
Attorney General William Barr defended the decision on Thursday, saying that he believed the FBI set a “perjury trap” for Flynn.
He also said that there was nothing illegal about Flynn’s call with Kislyak.
Grenell, who is also serving as ambassador to Germany, has led a push in recent weeks to declassify a trove of documents related to the FBI’s investigation of various Trump associates.
He took part in the process to declassify footnotes from a Justice Department inspector general’s report on the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
The footnotes, which were published on April 10, revealed that the bureau had evidence of possible Russian disinformation in the Steele dossier.
Grenell also pressured Rep. Adam Schiff into releasing 53 transcripts of interviews that the House Intelligence Committee conducted as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The transcripts showed that multiple Obama administration officials testified that they had not seen evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
The transcripts also revealed that Obama administration officials James Clapper, Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, and Samantha Power denied taking part in the Flynn leak.
