On the January 2017 Felony Leaks

Back on January 5, 2017, who leaked intelligence about Russia’s purported efforts to interfere in the 2016 election – and info on the Flynn-Kislyak calls – to the Washington Post?

One high level official at the Office of the Director of National had a guess:

“my bet is either the WH or SCCI Dem source on the Hill.”

Those were the words of Brian Hale, the Director of Public Affairs for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in response to a question of January 5, 2017 leaks to Washington Post reporters Adam Entous and Greg Miller.

James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence at the time, was copied on that email. (See below; SSCI = U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.)

Background

This is the article in question, which discusses the presentation of classified documents to President Obama on January 5, 2017 and goes further than the DNI and DHS assessment that “only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized” the “cyber operations to disrupt the U.S. election.”

The U.S. officials cited by Entous and Miller went further, stating that Russia’s actions were aimed at installing Trump as President.

It was long-thought that the initial leak of the Flynn-Kislyak call was to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. He was, after all, the author of the January 12, 2017 story which first discussed the calls and whether Flynn violated the spirit of the Logan Act.

This assumption was mistaken.

We were the first to report, however, that the initial leak of the Flynn-Kislyak call wasn’t to Ignatius. It was, instead, to Washington Post reporter Adam Entous. We were informed that these sources actually saw the Flynn-Kislyak transcripts, leaving a small pool of potential suspects.

Why It Matters

The Flynn-Kisleak leak to Entous would have come at the same time as the January 5, 2017 article addressed by Hale.

The leak was a felony orchestrated for the purposes of damaging the incoming NSA and, thus, the incoming Trump administration. The fallout was enough to get Flynn removed, which prevented him from overseeing the ongoing Carter Page FISA renewals.

Additionally, for these acts of diplomacy, Flynn was unfairly targeted by the FBI and members of the Obama DOJ for violations of the Logan Act. The use of the Logan Act was nothing but a pretext. Remember, Crossfire Razor (the name of the Flynn investigation) was set to be closed. It was only after the disgraced Peter Strzok intervened with the Logan Act theory – with the assistance of Lisa Page – that the investigation kept open.

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https://technofog.substack.com/p/on-the-january-2017-felony-leaks