dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Acting intelligence chief gave Justice Department list of

Obama officials who ‘unmasked’ Michael Flynn

by Shane Harris and Matt Zapotosky, Washington Post

Updated: May 13, 2020 6:58 AM

"WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s top intelligence adviser has given the Justice Department the names of Obama administration officials who “unmasked” then-national security adviser Michael Flynn after his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States in 2016, according to U.S. officials.

That action, which has been a cornerstone of Trump's long-standing allegations of criminality by his predecessor, identified Flynn as the person urging Russia not to respond to punitive sanctions that the Obama administration had imposed after the Kremlin's interference in the presidential election.

Unmasking is a routine practice used to identify a U.S. person who is anonymously referred to in an intelligence document — in this case the intercepted conversations of Sergey Kislyak, then the Russian ambassador, who was a target of U.S. surveillance. Current and former officials said unmasking can be a vital tool for identifying potential spies or terrorists.

Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, made the decision to declassify the list of officials involved, an action first reported by ABC News. Grenell provided the names to the Justice Department the day after it filed a motion to drop charges against Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Kislyak. Flynn was also fired for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about those communications, the White House said at the time."