. . . here.
From the story:The day McDonough requested the informationis the same day as an Oval Office meeting that has drawn scrutiny in the wake of the Flynn developments. The meeting includedObama, Biden, Clapper, Brennan, Comey, then-National Security Adviser Susan Rice and then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates(Fox News).
From the Wall Street Journal editorial board:The Flynn unmasking is important because it occurred amid a media frenzy over supposed Trump campaign collusion with Russia. Leaks to the Washington Post about the conversations between the Russian ambassador and both Mr. Flynn and soon-to-be Attorney General Jeff Sessions were played up as central to the collusion scandal. They caused Mr. Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia probe and Mr. Flynn to be fired. While unmasking isn’t illegal, leaking intelligence is(WSJ).
From Ed Morrissey:Let’s not forget that the collection of intelligence on US persons while in the US is against the law without a specific warrant from a FISA court. Material on US persons that is collected inadvertently through legitimate counterintelligence operations — such as tracking Russian diplomats — is masked unless there is a pressing threat that requires an extremely limited exposure of their identities. Here we have sixteen Obama administration officials requesting access to Flynn’s identity between the election and Trump’s inauguration(Hot Air).
Sean Davis reminds us “The identities are important because they may shed light on which officials illegally leaked information about Flynn’s calls with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak to journalists at the Washington Post. U.S. Attorney John Durham is reportedly investigating the matter and seeking to determine who was responsible for the illegal leak of classified information” (The Federalist).
After NBC’s Andrea Mitchell called this gaslighting, Ari Fleischer responded “Amazing to me how the “cynical” press is missing this story. The issue isn’t how often the intell community unmasks. The issue is how often the White House unmasks. Did it ever occur to the media the Obama WH unmasked like no one before them???” (Twitter).
From Senator Rand Paul:Declassified documents reveal V.P. Biden ordered the unmasking of General Flynn’s private conversation. Anyone think that Biden might have abused his power to go after a political opponent…(Twitter).
From David Harsanyi:Using the no-big-deal standard, it would be legit for Trump to spy on John Kerry (now a member of Biden’s campaign) because he secretly met with Iranians to undermine the administration’s foreign policy. (Even more legit since Flynn was incoming advisor)(Twitter). More (National Review).
From Andy McCarthy:Reminder: Just because we have a list of unmasker names does not mean we know who the actual unmaskers are. If this was GOP unmasking Dems, it’d be a scandal, we’d have answers, and people would already have walked the plank over it(Twitter).
From Hugh Hewitt:Who authorized the unmasking? Pursuant to what standard? Were the “justifications” retained? Is there any precedent for this occurring during a transition and why did vast expanse or ink spilled on SC Report not explain this avalanche of unmaskings and what role they played?(Twitter).
From Katie Pavlich:The argument that the Flynn situation is “just a distraction” isn’t going to fly, DNC(Twitter).
Do you see a mainstream publication in there? Fox News and Wall St. Journal, who do not qualify in the usual sense, being publications of very large circulation who manage to report and comment on news in a reasonable manner, most of the time, especially WSJ.
Blithe Spirit 