According to a memo declassified by acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and released Wednesday, former Vice President Joe Biden and other top Obama officials received information in response to “unmasking” requests targeting Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn in the final weeks of the Obama administration.
GOP Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa released the documents, listing the declassified names of Obama-era officials who sought to “unmask” Flynn.
The list features officials including then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-FBI Director James Comey, and intelligence chiefs John Brennan and James Clapper. It also included Obama’s then-chief of staff, Denis McDonough.
The document reveals that Biden had received information at least once in response to such an unmasking request on Jan. 12, 2017.
“I declassified the enclosed document, which I am providing to you for your situational awareness,” Grenell wrote to GOP senators.
“Each individual was an authorized recipient of the original report and the unmasking was approved through NSA’s standard process, which includes a review of the justification for the request,” the document said. “Only certain personnel are authorized to submit unmasking requests into the NSA system. In this case, 16 authorized individuals requested unmasking for [REDACTED] different NSA intelligence reports for select identified principals.” The document added: “While the principals are identified below, we cannot confirm they saw the unmasked information. This response does not include any requests outside of the specified time-frame.” Continued Below
The list shows that then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power made unmasking requests seven times between Nov. 30, 2016, and Jan. 11, 2017, Clapper made three requests from Dec. 2, 2016, through Jan. 7, 2017; that Brennan made two requests, one on Dec. 14 and one on Dec. 15, 2016. Comey also made a request on Dec. 15, 2016. On Jan. 5, 2017, McDonough made one request, and on Jan. 12, 2017, then-Vice President Biden made one request.
The document comes one day after Biden told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that he knew “nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn,” and called the topic a “diversion” from the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden was pressed again and clarified: “I thought you asked me whether or not I had anything to do with him being prosecuted. I’m sorry. … I was aware that there was– that they asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know about it, and I don’t think anything else.” Continued Below
ODNI Response 2 courtesy of Washington Examiner on Scribd.
CBS News’ Catherine Herridge also tweeted:
SCOOP @CBSNews obtains @RichardGrenell notification to congress declassified “unmasking list” Flynn between late 2016 and January 2017 pic.twitter.com/axc8MHvYYd
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) May 13, 2020
SCOOP @CBSNews obtains @RichardGrenell notification to congress declassified “unmasking list” Flynn between late 2016 and January 2017 – Read 3 pages provided by NSA here pic.twitter.com/NozVpQlRn2
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) May 13, 2020
#FLYNN unmasking docs include these key details “Each individual was an authorized recipient of the original report and the unmasking was approved through NSA's standard process..While the principals are identified below, we cannot confirm they saw the unmasked information." pic.twitter.com/vz9W3uHPSz
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) May 13, 2020
(H/T Fox News)
