With the release of the names of more than a dozen officials who asked to have Gen. Michael Flynn’s identity “unmasked,” the apparent effort to take down President Trump — before he even took office — is starting to look like a broader Team Obama scheme than first thought.
The disclosed names include those of ex-Vice President Joe Biden, Obama Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, FBI boss James Comey and intel chiefs John Brennan and James Clapper. Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell sent the list of names to Congress on Wednesday after they were declassified.
Unmasking is the process of revealing to certain officials the names of people caught in conversations with foreign nationals who are under surveillance. The Obama folks asked to have such people, including the person heard speaking with the Russian ambassador, unmasked in the days and weeks prior to a key Jan. 5, 2017, meeting with President Barack Obama.
True, it’s not unusual for officials to make unmasking requests, but Obama’s team was obsessed with Trump’s foreign-policy team, particularly Michael Flynn, who had been kicked out of Obama’s administration. Were these legitimate worries, or a vendetta? Or just anger that Trump wanted to pursue a foreign policy different from Obamas? And given how the FBI pushed to bring down Flynn, the broad Team Obama interest in Flynn’s conversation certainly raises red flags.
Indeed, an exhibit in the Justice Department’s motion to drop the criminal case against Flynn — who was pressured to plead guilty to lying about that conversation — shows that Obama himself was aware of Flynn’s discussion with the envoy.
A memo then-National Security Adviser Susan Rice later wrote about that Jan. 5 meeting even suggests the then-president instructed his underlings to be careful about what information they shared with the Trump folks regarding Russia.
Biden’s role, too, is now questionable. On Tuesday, the Democratic presidential wannabe first claimed he knew “nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn.” Yet when pressed, Biden admitted he “was aware that there was — that they asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know.”
OK, so why was Biden requesting the name of the person (Flynn) who spoke to the Russian?
At some point, Attorney General William Barr and prosecutor John Durham will likely put all the pieces of this puzzle in place. Meanwhile, though, Biden and the rest of the Obama crew have a lot of explaining to do.