“The problem here is not unmasking, it’s that the unconfirmed, acting DNI used his position to politicize intelligence to help reelect the president,” says the former CIA deputy chief of staff. “It’s an unconscionable abuse of power”
But despite the seemingly nefarious undertone of the process known within the intelligence community as “unmasking,” former officials familiar vehemently assert that it is commonplace. “You can’t do your job without it,”the former acting director of the CIA during the Obama administration and host of thepodcast, said, noting that he made such requests to the National Security Agency several times a month during his tenure to better understand the underlying intelligence in reports.
The document details more than three dozen requests by Obama officials between the November 2016 election and Trump’s inauguration in January 2017. Trump and his allies have argued that the sheer number of unmasking requests that revealed Flynn suggest an effort within the Obama administration to target the retired Army lieutenant and, by extension, the Trump campaign.
Grenell’s declassification follows the stunning Justice Department decision to drop its case against Flynn, who was charged with and pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the former Russian ambassador to the U.S.Among veterans of the D.C. bar, the move by the Justice Department under Attorney Generalto dismiss the charges, was met with alarm. “I was flabbergasted in reading DOJ’s motion,”leak case, told me.
But Barr and Grenell effectively struck two pieces of flint together to create smoke, if not fire. Devoid of context or explanation, the unmasking list is already being deployed by allies of the president to paint Flynn as a victim of Trump’s political enemies. And the motion to dismiss the charges against Flynn—never mind his guilty plea—buttresses the narrative that the Russia investigation was a hoax; the charges were trumped up from the start.
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