Intel chief releases info on ‘unmasking’ of Flynn to Capitol Hill

Source: Politico | May 13, 2020 | Andrew Desiderio and Betsy Woodruff Swan

The list of names includes former Vice President Joe Biden.

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell on Wednesday sent top Republican senators a list of former senior Obama administration officials who might have been involved in efforts that “unmasked” former national security adviser Michael Flynn — including former Vice President Joe Biden.

The release comes amid a furious campaign by President Donald Trump and his allies to accuse former President Barack Obama and his top deputies of illegally targeting the Trump campaign and the incoming Trump administration. In recent days, the president has coined the term “Obamagate” to accuse his predecessor of seeking to undermine him and target his top associates — though he has struggled to articulate or prove any specific wrongdoing.

Grenell sent the list, which includes former officials who made “unmasking” requests that might have identified Flynn, to Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) a day after the lawmakers wrote to Grenell and Attorney General William Barr calling on them to release information about efforts by Obama administration officials to “unmask” U.S. citizens who were subject to government surveillance.

The list, obtained by POLITICO, also includes high-level officials such as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey, and former White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. Thirty-nine people in total are listed, ranging from White House officials to diplomats and Treasury Department officials. Grenell declassified the list last week.

The unmasking requests came amid the officials’ escalating concerns about the Trump campaign and transition team’s contacts with Russian officials — concerns that would culminate in a special counsel investigation that has consumed much of Trump’s presidency.

National security officials can seek to reveal the identity of individuals involved in conversations subject to government surveillance, a process known as “unmasking.” Such requests are common; for example, last year alone, U.S. spy agencies were asked 7,724 times to reveal the identities of Americans caught up in those intelligence intercepts.

An accompanying memo to Grenell, signed by National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone, notes that each person was “an authorized recipient” of the information and that the unmasking was approved through the agency’s normal protocol.

Johnson and Grassley, who are spearheading an investigation targeting Biden‘s son Hunter, have drawn scrutiny from Democrats who say they are using the Senate to boost Trump’s political fortunes. But the senators say their efforts are intended to seek accountability over alleged wrongdoing surrounding the origins of the Russia investigation.

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The memo authored by Nakasone includes details about the date range of the unmasking requests, though several dates listed for individual unmasking requests were before Flynn’s Dec. 29 phone call with the former Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. The Justice Department dropped its criminal case last week against Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his phone call with Kislyak, but later said he had been railroaded into doing so.

“Per your email request of 3 May 2020, I am providing a revised list of identities of any officials who submitted requests to the National Security Agency at any point between 8 November 2016 and 31 January 2017 to unmask the identity of former National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn (USA-Ret),” Nakasone wrote.

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It also includes a note of caution: “While the principals are identified below, we cannot confirm they saw the unmasked information.”

Biden has denied wrongdoing in connection with the Flynn case.

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Sally Yates, who served as acting attorney general at the beginning of the Trump presidency, previously warned in congressional testimony that Flynn could be subject to blackmail from the Russians as a result of his conversations with Kislyak. It was Yates who expressed those concerns privately to then White House Counsel Don McGahn, leading to Flynn’s firing.

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