Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrumps Cult Release -REVEALS Flynn engaged in OTHER suspicious activity beyond what's publicly known
So it turns out that the Trump cults release of the unmasking requests related to Flynn suggest that Flynn was engaged in OTHER suspicious activity beyond whats publicly known. Good work, guysOF OVER 40 POTENTIAL UNMASKINGS OF MIKE FLYNN DURING THE TRANSITION, JUST ONE LED TO CRIMINAL CHARGES
May 13, 2020/19 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson have just posted what they seem to think is a list of people who may have unmasked Mike Flynns identity in the transcripts of his conversations on December 29 and 31 with Sergey Kislyak.
As a threshold matter, what it actually shows, is that over 40 recipients of intelligence may have unmasked Mike Flynns identity in a finished NSA intelligence product between the 2016 election and inauguration. If they did, they did it by the book, with NSA approval per the accompanying letter from Paul Nakasone. And even if they unmasked Flynns identity, the person who did so may not have read it.
The implication is that one of these unmaskings was the one (or were the ones) that led to the discovery that Mike Flynn had secretly called up the Russian Ambassador and undermined US foreign policy, acting without specific orders from Trump (at least as the public record currently stands).
Mind you, almost all of them could not be. Only 8 of them post-date the calls between Flynn and Kislyak:US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power (1/11/17)
DNI James Clapper (1/7/2017)
Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew (1/12/17)
White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough (1/5/17)
DDNI Michael Dempsey (1/7/17)
PDDNI Stephanie OSullivan (1/7/17)
CIA/CTMC 1/10/17
Vice President Joe Biden 1/12/17
And of those, only the McDonough unmasking corresponds even remotely to the time the IC discovered Flynns call, except we know FBI had already discovered it on January 4. Which is to say zero of these unmaskings could be the original one. A few people could be someone reading a transcript from the calls after the fact.
Except that some of these such as the January 11 unmasking are believed to relate to Mohammed bin Zayeds secret trip to the US to meet Flynn and Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner, and so are of another intercept.
Theres probably a very good reason why the original unmasking doesnt show up on this list, which reflects only NSA products and only finished intelligence reports. According to Jim Comeys testimony, the FBI found the Kislyak-Flynn calls, not the NSA.And so the last couple days of December and the first couple days of January, all the Intelligence Community was trying to figure out, so what is going on here? Why is this why have the Russians reacted the way they did, which confused us? And so we were all tasked to find out, do you have anything [redacted] that might reflect on this? That turned up these calls at the end of December, beginning of January. And then I briefed it to the Director of National Intelligence, and Director Clapper asked me for copies [redacted], which I shared with him.
Thats consistent with Mary McCords testimony, which made it clear no one had to refer this transcript to the FBI, because it was the FBIs.Also on page 2 of her notes, McCord noted mention of a referral, and noted that ultimately no referral was required, as the FBI maintained the information and would not refer a matter to themselves.
Plus, Jim Comey says this never became a finished intelligence product, even while he admitted that the FBI unmasked his identity.We did not disseminate this [redacted] in any finished intelligence, although our people judged was appropriate, for reasons that I hope are obvious, to have Mr. Flynns name unmasked. We kept this very close hold, and it was shared just as I described.
So if this transcript was an FBI intercept that never made it into a finalized intelligence product, then it wouldnt show up in a list of finalized NSA products.
All of which is to say this list which Politico is running with as if its the Holy Grail most likely has nothing to do with Flynns conversations with Sergey Kislyak, and shows that the Deep State picked up Mike Flynn during the transition in a good deal of reporting, with reports that more than 40 people had a glimpse at. But only one recording launched an investigation.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/13/of-over-40-potential-unmaskings-of-mike-flynn-during-the-transition-just-one-led-to-criminal-charges/
Link to tweet
?s=20
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
3 replies, 1180 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (27)
ReplyReply to this post
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Trumps Cult Release -REVEALS Flynn engaged in OTHER suspicious activity beyond what's publicly known (Original Post)
kpete
May 2020
OP
Me.
(35,454 posts)1. The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
IllinoisBirdWatcher
(2,315 posts)2. K & R
duforsure
(11,885 posts)3. They should let the charges be dropped
Then refile on Jan. 31st