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WHY THE FLOOD OF NEW TRUMP-RUSSIA REVELATIONS? It seems like there’s new material every day. Now, there is a just-declassified portion of Susan Rice’s infamous January 20, 2017 “by the book” email — the one where she went out of her way to insist, in a memo to herself, that President Obama did everything “by the book” investigating the incoming Trump administration. We’re also seeing all sorts of new documents from the continuing Michael Flynn debacle, including a declaration Flynn made in January in which he told the story of his decision — under duress, he said — to plead guilty to lying to the FBI. And then there is the Durham investigation, plus talk of new probe in the Senate, under Republican control.
So what’s up? Four answers: Ric Grenell, Sidney Powell, John Durham and Bill Barr. Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, is the acting Director of National Intelligence. He has used his brief time there to declassify Trump-Russia documents that should have been declassified long ago. (Grenell is there for a short stint because Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe, President Trump’s nominee for the permanent position, was approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday and will be headed to a final Senate confirmation vote.)
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Will the revelations continue after Grenell leaves DNI? Hill Republicans believe Ratcliffe will keep it going. “Our investigation has had persistent problems with stonewalling, obstruction, and over-classification from top intel officials who didn’t want the truth to get out about all the abuses of the FBI’s Russia investigation,” House Intelligence Committee ranking Republican Devin Nunes said Tuesday night. “Acting DNI Grenell has eliminated some of those key problems.”
In the case of the Susan Rice email, Grenell declassified a paragraph that should never have been blacked out — except that it made fired FBI Director James Comey look bad. In a January 5, 2017 Oval Office meeting, Comey told Obama he was concerned that Flynn, the incoming national security adviser, “is speaking frequently with Russian Ambassador Kislyak.” Rice noted that Comey “added that he has no indication thus far that Flynn had passed any classified information to Kislyak.” Still, Comey said “the level of communication is unusual.” No investigator has alleged that Flynn acted improperly in the phone calls. The public should have known earlier about all of it.
The Flynn revelations are coming because of Powell, the lawyer who guided Flynn through withdrawing his guilty plea and, later, the Justice Department’s decision to drop charges. Everything we’re learning about the FBI’s deeply questionable conduct in the case is because of her work on the case. The Justice Department and special counsel would have been happy to sweep it all under the rug a long time ago.
Finally, Durham and Barr, the U.S. attorney investigating the Trump-Russia investigation and the attorney general who assigned him the job. It’s hard to exaggerate how eagerly Republicans are awaiting the results of Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz made a lot of striking findings, but he was limited to investigating the Justice Department. Durham, at Barr’s direction, has a far wider scope. But he doesn’t have much time. It’s mid-May. There is an election in November. If Democrat Joe Biden wins the White House, there will be no investigations like the Durham investigation. None.
Finally, what about Lindsey Graham? The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has said he wants to conduct a big investigation before November’s elections. But some other Republicans don’t have much confidence in Graham’s ability and determination to stick to a complex probe. Stay tuned.
