Another swing and a miss by Right conspiracy theory: Trump’s Probe Into ‘Unmasking’ Conspiracy Ends With No Wrongdoing Found
Oct 14, 2020 10:29:58 #
Nick Visser·Senior Reporter, HuffPost
Tue, October 13, 2020, 8:44 PM MDT
A federal investigation meant to target Obama administration officials for “unmasking” the names of individuals in classified intelligence reports ended recently without finding any wrongdoing that the Trump administration could use as political ammunition, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Attorney General William Barr appointed Texas U.S. Attorney John Bash in May to look into the unmasking requests from late 2016 and early 2017, which involved intercepted conversations between Michael Flynn — President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser — and Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the 2016 e******n.
The “unmasking” of names in classified documents is a common, legal practice that allows government officials with proper security clearance to better understand what they’re reading, the Post noted. During the Flynn unmasking, the list of Obama officials involved included Vice President Joe Biden, FBI Director James Comey and director of national intelligence James Clapper.
But Trump has attacked the practice as a conspiracy to undermine his administration.
“No one has ever been criminally prosecuted for unmasking,” Ned Price, a former CIA analyst who worked in the Obama administration, told Reuters at the time of Barr’s announcement. “That would be tantamount to pursuing criminal charges against an intelligence analyst for merely doing his job.”
The Post, citing anonymous sources familiar with Bash’s investigation, said his findings also focused on whether Obama-era officials provided information from the documents to reporters. But the investigation didn’t find the type of smoking gun the Trump administration could leverage into political points, the sources said.
The Department of Justice has so far declined to release the findings of the investigation.
Trump has been under scrutiny lately over his efforts to pressure the Justice Department to investigate his political opponents in the waning days of his ree******n campaign. He has said this month that he is “very disappointed” in Barr and called for the quick release of a probe into the Obama administration’s efforts to investigate any possible collusion between Russia and the Trump administration.
The attorney general has said those results will not be available before the Nov. 3 e******n.
“That’s a disgrace,” Trump said in an interview with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh earlier this month. “I think it’s a disgrace. It’s an embarrassment.”
The president’s efforts to influence the Justice Department for political purposes has worried those within the agency and outside legal analysts. Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec told Fox News in May that the practice of “unmasking” wasn’t “inherently” wrong but said the administration was concerned about how often the requests were made in the Obama White House.
Reuters noted at the time that the Trump administration has requested far more unmaskings than his predecessor.
Bash said last week that he would resign from the Department of Justice and move into the private sector, an abrupt departure that surprised many in the agency.
“I hope that I have discharged my authority wisely and have improved the safety and security of my fellow Texans,” he said in a statement at the time. “I leave the Department with a profound respect for its people, its traditions, and its importance to our constitutional democracy.”
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/trump-unmasking-flynn-obama-024404364.html
Tue, October 13, 2020, 8:44 PM MDT
A federal investigation meant to target Obama administration officials for “unmasking” the names of individuals in classified intelligence reports ended recently without finding any wrongdoing that the Trump administration could use as political ammunition, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Attorney General William Barr appointed Texas U.S. Attorney John Bash in May to look into the unmasking requests from late 2016 and early 2017, which involved intercepted conversations between Michael Flynn — President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser — and Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the 2016 e******n.
The “unmasking” of names in classified documents is a common, legal practice that allows government officials with proper security clearance to better understand what they’re reading, the Post noted. During the Flynn unmasking, the list of Obama officials involved included Vice President Joe Biden, FBI Director James Comey and director of national intelligence James Clapper.
But Trump has attacked the practice as a conspiracy to undermine his administration.
“No one has ever been criminally prosecuted for unmasking,” Ned Price, a former CIA analyst who worked in the Obama administration, told Reuters at the time of Barr’s announcement. “That would be tantamount to pursuing criminal charges against an intelligence analyst for merely doing his job.”
The Post, citing anonymous sources familiar with Bash’s investigation, said his findings also focused on whether Obama-era officials provided information from the documents to reporters. But the investigation didn’t find the type of smoking gun the Trump administration could leverage into political points, the sources said.
The Department of Justice has so far declined to release the findings of the investigation.
Trump has been under scrutiny lately over his efforts to pressure the Justice Department to investigate his political opponents in the waning days of his ree******n campaign. He has said this month that he is “very disappointed” in Barr and called for the quick release of a probe into the Obama administration’s efforts to investigate any possible collusion between Russia and the Trump administration.
The attorney general has said those results will not be available before the Nov. 3 e******n.
“That’s a disgrace,” Trump said in an interview with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh earlier this month. “I think it’s a disgrace. It’s an embarrassment.”
The president’s efforts to influence the Justice Department for political purposes has worried those within the agency and outside legal analysts. Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec told Fox News in May that the practice of “unmasking” wasn’t “inherently” wrong but said the administration was concerned about how often the requests were made in the Obama White House.
Reuters noted at the time that the Trump administration has requested far more unmaskings than his predecessor.
Bash said last week that he would resign from the Department of Justice and move into the private sector, an abrupt departure that surprised many in the agency.
“I hope that I have discharged my authority wisely and have improved the safety and security of my fellow Texans,” he said in a statement at the time. “I leave the Department with a profound respect for its people, its traditions, and its importance to our constitutional democracy.”
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/trump-unmasking-flynn-obama-024404364.html
Oct 14, 2020 12:40:05 #
rumitoid wrote:
Nick Visser·Senior Reporter, HuffPost br Tue, Octo... (show quote)
The report has not been released, but undisclosed sources say Bash's team found no substantive wrongdoing. Meaning, just like clinton, there was wrongdoing, but obama and his administration are too special to be tried and punished for what they did.
Isn't this like being a little bit pregnant?
Oct 14, 2020 17:10:08 #
Simple Sam wrote:
The report has not been released, but undisclosed sources say Bash's team found no substantive wrongdoing. Meaning, just like clinton, there was wrongdoing, but obama and his administration are too special to be tried and punished for what they did.
Isn't this like being a little bit pregnant?
Isn't this like being a little bit pregnant?
We all have our spin.
Oct 14, 2020 17:12:33 #
rumitoid wrote:
We all have our spin.
Yes you do! Although the REPORT HAS NOT BEEN MADE PUBLIC, you came to a definitive conclusion.
Oct 14, 2020 21:20:15 #
TexaCan
Loc: Homeward Bound!
rumitoid wrote:
We all have our spin.
This is so funny! You definitely have your very special kind of spin! I just love it when you have complete conversations with yourself!😎
Oct 15, 2020 16:44:10 #
TexaCan wrote:
This is so funny! You definitely have your very special kind of spin! I just love it when you have complete conversations with yourself!😎
Thank you.
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