Top Obama administration officials purportedly requested to “unmask” the identity of Michael Flynn during the presidential transition period, according to a list of names from that controversial process made public on Wednesday.
Brooke Singman, David Spunt | Fox News
The list was declassified in recent days by Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, and then sent to GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, who made the documents public. It features top figures 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.
“I declassified the enclosed document, which I am providing to you for your situational awareness,” Grenell wrote to GOP senators in sending along the list.
Grenell’s letter was addressed to Sens. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., who had penned a letter to him and Attorney General Bill Barr regarding the declassification of files related to the unmasking process earlier in the day.
As Fox News previously reported, Grenell made the decision to declassify information about Obama administration officials who were involved in the “unmasking” of former national security adviser Michael Flynn — whose calls with the former Russian ambassador during the presidential transition were picked up in surveillance and later leaked.
Grenell appeared to have delivered those files to the DOJ last week. The declassified list showed recipients who “may have received Lt. Gen Flynn’s identity in response to a request processed between 8 November 2016 and 31 January 2017 to unmask an identity that had been generically referred to in an NSA foreign intelligence report,” the document, obtained by Fox News, read.
“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 hey saw the unmasked information. This response does not include any requests outside of the specified time-frame.”
Click below for original article