Joe Biden’s presidential campaign denied that he knew retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s identity before he received “unmasking” information days before he left office in January 2017 and slammed Republicans for releasing the documents.
The former vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is one of many top Obama officials who received information in response to “unmasking” requests targeting Flynn between Election Day 2016 and Jan. 31 2017, as revealed in a memo declassified this week by acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and made public by Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson.
Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates addressed the list and surrounding commentary around it in a statement on Wednesday:
The claim that “none of these individuals could have known Flynn’s identity beforehand” is sure to garner further scrutiny.
The list, obtained by the Washington Examiner on Wednesday, shows that Biden either requested or received the information about Flynn on Jan. 12, 2017, the same day that a Washington Post column that contained leaked classified details from Flynn’s call with the Russian ambassador. It does not, however, show that Biden personally made the request or confirm that he looked at the information.
Unmasking occurs when U.S. intelligence agencies eavesdropping on foreigners sweep up communications with U.S. citizens in what is known as incidental collection. When the intelligence reporting is shared across the government, names of U.S. citizens are typically concealed or masked to protect their identities. The names can be unmasked, however, if U.S. officials make the request.
In an interview earlier this week, after first denying he knew anything about the FBI investigation into Flynn, Biden corrected himself when pressed on it by journalist George Stephanopoulos, who noted his presence at a high-profile Oval Office meeting in the final days of the Obama administration on Jan. 5, 2017. After that meeting, documents show, Comey discussed with Obama and Biden intercepted contacts between Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.
Biden audibly sighed on ABC’s Good Morning America as Stephanopoulos asked what the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee knew about an early 2017 investigation into Flynn and whether there was anything improper done by the Obama administration.
“I know nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn,” Biden said. “This is all about diversion. This is a game this guy plays all the time. The country is in crisis. … He should stop trying to always divert attention from the real concerns of the American people.”
But after Stephanopoulos followed up, noting that the former vice president was said to be in attendance at the early January 2017 meeting, Biden corrected himself.
“I thought you asked me whether or not I had anything to do with him being prosecuted,” Biden replied, after fidgeting with his earpiece. “I was aware that there was, that they asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know about it.”
Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told Robert Mueller’s special counsel team she first learned of the Flynn recordings from Barack Obama himself at the same confab following the Jan. 5, 2017, White House meeting about the intelligence community assessment. Obama asked Yates and FBI Director James Comey to stay behind with national security adviser Susan Rice and Biden when the main meeting concluded.
The newly declassified unmasking records show that 16 individuals made unmasking requests related to the incoming Trump national security adviser, and the list shows which officials received that sensitive information. It was not immediately clear which individuals made the requests, but those who received the unmasking information were laid out chronologically.
Former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Obama White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, and former FBI Director James Comey are all on the list.
Republicans argue that the list indicates top Obama administration officials abused government power in an effort to damage a political opponent under the guise of an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
“Joe Biden’s limp claim that he doesn’t know anything about the railroading of Gen. Michael Flynn just got even more unbelievable,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement. “Americans have a right to know the depth of Biden’s involvement in the setup of Gen. Flynn to further the Russia collusion hoax.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the same Biden spokesman tweeted that CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge is a “partisan, rightwing hack” for sharing the unsealed document. Following widespread criticism, including from CNN host Jake Tapper, Bates deleted the tweet.
The timeline of events surrounding Flynn has led to a further examination of Biden’s role in the investigation after newly unsealed FBI documents showed former FBI agent Peter Strzok and the FBI’s “7th floor” leadership stopped the bureau from closing its investigation into Flynn in early January 2017, even though investigators said they had “no derogatory information” on him in their draft closing communication, after intercepts of Flynn’s communications with the Russian envoy emerged. Emails from later that month show Strzok, along with then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page and several others, sought out ways to continue investigating Flynn, including by deploying the Logan Act.
On Jan. 20, 2017, the day of Trump’s inauguration, former national security adviser Susan Rice penned an internal memo detailing the Jan. 5 meeting.
“President Obama had a brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director Jim Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office. Vice President Biden and I were also present,” she wrote in an email to herself. “President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the intelligence and law enforcement communities by the book.”
