Sixteen top Obama administration officials — including Vice President Joe Biden — requested information to ‘unmask’ the identity of retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn during the presidential transition period, according to the declassified list given to two top GOP Senators from Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.
Though Grenell's declassified information does not mention President Barack Obama, the obvious question immediately arises as to what he may have known, and when.
Former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power, however, appeared to have the most requests for Flynn’s information from November 30, 2016 until Jan. 11, 2017 she had issued seven requests to unmask Flynn’s name.
“Only certain personnel are authorized to submit unmasking requests into the NSA system,” stated Grenell in the documents provided to the Senators. “In this case, 16 authorized individuals requested unmaskings for (redacted) different NSA intelligence reports for select principals. While principals are identified below, we cannot confirm they saw the unmasked information. This response does not include any requests outside of the specified time-frame.”
Grenell had declassified the list this week and sent it to the Department of Justice for review before releasing the documents to Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson on Wednesday. Both Senators demanded that the documents be made public Tuesday night in a formal letter to Grenell.
The much-anticipated documents were stunning, as former Vice President Biden’s name was revealed on the official list of those requesting the classified information on Flynn. It appears that the officials on the list all had access to Flynn’s highly classified conversation with then Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition in December 2016.
Flynn’s conversation was leaked to several Washington Post reporters and then printed in a column by David Ignatius, who stated that numerous senior officials had verified the information in his column. The column was supposedly the impetus for the FBI’s continued investigation into Flynn.
Comey, Clapper and Brennan are among the most prominent Obama Administration officials who sought to illegally unmask Gen. Mike Flynn’s information from top secret wiretap transcripts of the Russian Ambassador of the time, Sergey Kislyak. (Photo Montage: ACV Reports)
The investigation eventually led to Flynn’s firing from the White House after a short tenure as Trump’s first national security advisor. The Department of Justice has now asked the courts to drop Flynn’s case against him.
That was the result of Flynn Defense attorney Sidney Powell and DOJ appointed U.S. Attorney Jeffery Jenson from the Eastern District of Missouri’s U.S. Attorney’s office revealing a litany of information that was withheld from his defense by prosecutors. The information Jenson provided uncovered what appeared to be a perjury trap set up by the FBI officials involved in his investigation.
Former FBI Director James Comey was fired by President Donald Trump for his role in the debunked investigation to target his campaign. Former CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence under Obama, James Clapper, also had access to Flynn’s information.
Power, who had made the most significant requests to access Flynn’s communications, was grilled in 2018 by former Congressman Trey Gowdy during closed door hearings about her extensive unmasking requests.
Power, who had more than 260 unmaskings in her name at the end of Obama’s tenure, told Gowdy during the hearing that she did not sign off on all the requests that were put in her name. The allegation she made at the hearing suggested that someone else was signing her name in her stead for the classified information being requested.
Another name at the top of the list is Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough.
Grenell sent a letter Wednesday to Grassley and Johnson saying, “I declassified the enclosed document, which I am providing to you for your situational awareness.”
What happens next is up to Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump. Best bet: A Special Prosecutor will be appointed, and soon.
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