Top Obama administration officials purportedly requested to “unmask” the identity of Michael Flynn during the presidential transition period, according to a list of names from that controversial process made public on Wednesday.
The list was declassified in recent days by Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, and then sent to GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, who made the documents public. It features top figures including then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-FBI Director James Comey and intelligence chiefs John Brennan and James Clapper. It also included Obama’s then-chief of staff, Denis McDonough.
“I declassified the enclosed document, which I am providing to you for your situational awareness,” Grenell wrote to GOP senators in sending along the list.
Grenell’s letter was addressed to Sens. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., who had penned a letter to him and Attorney General Bill Barr regarding the declassification of files related to the unmasking process earlier in the day.