The release of the list of Obama Administration officials who requested unmaskings of Gen. Michael Flynn’s telephone calls during the 2016 transition has raised many questions. The Epoch Times‘ Petr Svab solved the mystery of why there were no unmasking requests following Flynn’s December 29, 2016 telephone call with the Russian Ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. The call was never masked.
In his testimony before Congress, former FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers the call “turned up…at the end of December, beginning of January.”
Well, how exactly did information about this particular call just “turn up?”
As McCabe described the origin of the transcripts during his testimony, “They came up—we found them through an effort—without getting into too long of an explanation—in an effort to respond to a tasking from [redacted] and so the results of what we found were communicated to the Agency, who I think had the pen on that response.”
Dan asks, “Who tasked the FBI with finding that call?…Who has the power to order the FBI?”
Exception to Court Order Requirement: The President may authorize electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year without a FISC court order where the Attorney General certifies that there is “no substantial likelihood that the surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a U.S. person is a party,” provided the surveillance is directed solely at communications among or between foreign powers, or “the acquisition of technical intelligence…from property or premises under the open and exclusive control of a foreign power.” 50 U.S.C. § 1802.
Oh, the President can authorize electronic surveillance if it is certified by the Attorney General. Did Loretta Lynch certify a warrant to spy on Michael Flynn on behalf of Obama?
Dan rules out the alternative methods of surveillance. There’s no criminal warrant. We’ve learned that this call was not masked to begin with. How else might one conduct surveillance? He says, “What other explanation is there?…He was not unmasked…There were no FISA warrants that we know of on Flynn and the IG report doesn’t indicate there was one. We know there was an active investigation into Flynn…Did Barack Obama order this?”
“This is the most explosive revelation so far…If this is true,” Dan tells his viewers, “and that redacted name is Loretta Lynch on the authority of Barack Obama, Holy Krikes. Abuse of surveillance power directed ordered by the President of the United States on the incoming administration to fabricate a fake narrative used to set up the new President of the United States in an obstruction of justice trap.”
A Walk Through this Scenario:
The government is surveilling Kislyak. They’re receiving transcripts of his phone calls. How do they know who he’s speaking with?
FBI officials know Flynn would be vacationing in the Dominican Republic at the end of December. It would be easy for Obama officials to identify a Kislyak call to the Dominican Republic.
How can Obama officials guarantee that Kislyak will call Flynn while he’s there? They might announce sanctions against Russians or they might expel 35 Russian diplomats and close two Russian compounds for interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Which is exactly what they did. To be precise (and this distinction will become clear shortly), on December 28, Obama signed Executive Order #13757 which enacted sanctions on several Russians and Russian entities. On the next day, December 29, 2016, Obama announced the closing of two Russian compounds and the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats. Odd timing, is it not? Why did they wait so long after Election Day?
Because they knew the announcement of sanctions against Russia would “absolutely guarantee” that Kislyak would call Flynn.
Dan has actually been talking about this theory that Obama waited until Flynn was on vacation to kick out the diplomats for over two years. Now, it makes perfect sense.
They kicked the Russians out knowing that Kislyak would call knowing they could listen in on the call and set Flynn up for a false statement charge later. This was a trap and this is precisely why Obama is sweating bullets right now.
Who tasked the FBI with getting the call as it happened in December, despite the fact that there are no unmasking requests? This unmasking thing is a hoax.
(Note: Flynn’s name was unmasked on other calls. They’ve been investigating Flynn. But the December 29 phone call was not unmasked. They were surveilling Kislyak and took action which prompted him to call Flynn. Thus, no paper trail was left…Additionally, foreign governments were spying on Flynn and feeding information back to the United States, likely to John Brennan. They weren’t using the traditional Five Eyes intelligence alliance to do so. Dan discussed this on Thursday’s podcast which I covered here. After the election was over and foreign intelligence officials realized they’d been spying on the future President of the United States, they panicked and stopped providing information through this back channel.)
Dan rules out a criminal warrant, a FISA warrant through the FISA court and unmasking. Information about the December 29 call was likely obtained pursuant to an order by Barack Hussein Obama, signed off on by Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
“It seems pretty clear right now that all trails lead back to Barack Obama and that’s why he’s freaking out.”
The FBI had been investigating Gen. Flynn since August 16, 2016 and did not manage to find any “derogatory” information. They needed something else. This call would allow them to target Flynn for violation of the Logan Act which we’ve all heard repeatedly is a 200-year-old law that no one’s ever been prosecuted for. But they are getting desperate.
Dan explains that the transcript of the December 29 call would give the FBI what they needed to trap Flynn, to get him to lie to the FBI.
During the infamous White House ambush interview on January 24, Dan says, “Flynn did not lie. He’s a trained intelligence officer…They have to make the story up.”
“How could Flynn lie about sanctions if he was never asked about sanctions by the FBI?” he asks.
The distinction mentioned above now comes in to play. Dan hat tips Twitter detective Stephen McIntyre (@ClimateAudit) for this discovery.
Though the sanctions were announced on December 28 and the expulsion of diplomats and the closing of Russian compounds in Maryland and New York were announced by a statement on the White House website the following day (which can be viewed here). Here is an excerpt from that statement.
I have issued an executive order that provides additional authority for responding to certain cyber activity that seeks to interfere with or undermine our election processes and institutions, or those of our allies or partners. Using this new authority, I have sanctioned nine entities and individuals: the GRU and the FSB, two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; and three companies that provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations. In addition, the Secretary of the Treasury is designating two Russian individuals for using cyber-enabled means to cause misappropriation of funds and personal identifying information. The State Department is also shutting down two Russian compounds, in Maryland and New York, used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes, and is declaring “persona non grata” 35 Russian intelligence operatives. Finally, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are releasing declassified technical information on Russian civilian and military intelligence service cyber activity, to help network defenders in the United States and abroad identify, detect, and disrupt Russia’s global campaign of malicious cyber activities.
In the Statement of Offense against Flynn (excerpt below) the ever devious Brandon Van Grack conflates the executive order on sanctions with the White House statement on the expulsions. Two separate actions then became one.
False Statements Regarding FLYNN’s Request to the Russian Ambassador that Russia Refrainfrom Escalating the Situation in Response to U.S. Sanctions against Russia
3. On or about January 24, 2017, FLYNN agreed to be interviewed by agents from the FBI (“January 24 voluntary interview”). During the interview, FLYNN falsely stated that he did not ask Russia’s Ambassador to the United States (“Russian Ambassador”) to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia. FLYNN also falsely stated that he did not remember a follow-up conversation in which the Russian Ambassador stated that Russia had chosen to moderate its response to those
sanctions as a result of FLYNN’s request. In truth and in fact, however, FLYNN then and there knew that the following had occurred:a. On or about December 28, 2016, then-President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13757, which was to take effect the following day. The executive order announced sanctions against Russia in response to that government’s actions intended to interfere with the 2016 presidential election (“U.S. Sanctions”).
As we all know, the original 302 is at large. It has either been destroyed or is being closely guarded by the FBI. (17 days after the interview, FBI agent Peter Strzok and girlfriend, FBI lawyer Lisa Page are captured texting back and forth about edits they’re making to the original report.) The edited version of the FBI’s 302 can be viewed here.
On pages 4 and 5, the report indicates that Flynn told Strzok and Pientka he had discussed the expulsions and the closures with Kislyak, but that Kislyak had not asked about the sanctions.
NO WHERE is there any mention of the sanctions in the edited version of the 302. Flynn told FBI agents he had discussed the expulsions with Kislyak. Flynn had not been ASKED about the sanctions. These were two separate actions. Had he been asked, he would have discussed them.
(Note: The detailed story is told in a lengthy thread on Stephen McIntyre’s Twitter page.)
As per @ClimateAudit, in an interview with the Daily Caller, “Flynn said he did not discuss “sanctions” with Kislyak, but did discuss the Obama administration’s expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats it said were “intelligence operatives.”
17/ on Feb 16, WaPo reported that "Flynn said he didn’t discuss “sanctions” but did discuss the Obama administration’s expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats it said were “intelligence operatives.” https://t.co/wfSsUTAo5C pic.twitter.com/SLNtTmxY2G
— Stephen McIntyre (@ClimateAudit) May 14, 2020
Finally, even The New York Times and The Washington Post saw the executive order on sanctions as separate from the statement on expulsions.
WASHINGTON — President Obama struck back at Russia on Thursday for its efforts to influence the 2016 election, ejecting 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposing sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services.
The administration also penalized four top officers of one of those services, the powerful military intelligence unit known as the G.R.U.
In a recent interview with the Daily Caller, Flynn said he didn’t discuss “sanctions” but did discuss the Obama administration’s expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats it said were “intelligence operatives.” The move was part of the sanctions package it announced on Dec. 29.
It’s an important distinction. And I’m sure Van Grack knew exactly what he was doing. He’ll be shocked that he was found out.
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