One paragraph that had been redacted has been declassified, and it’s made everything clear.
Everyone thought that former National Security Advisor Susan Rice’s “email to self” on Inauguration Day 2017 was weird. Clearly, she was trying to cover for something sketchy going on or she wouldn’t suddenly be emailing a memo to herself hours before handing things over to her successor. The email was about a January 5, 2017 meeting between Rice, Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, and then-Federal Bureau of Investigations Director James Comey.
The memo had been released quite some time ago, but several key portions had been redacted as classified.
Acting DNI Ric Grenell has released the first page of her memo and declassified a paragraph that reveals so much in so few words.
Here is the formerly-redacted paragraph:
Director Comey affirmed that he is processing “by the book” as it relates to law enforcement. From a national security perspective, Comey said he does have some concerns that incoming NSA Flynn is speaking frequently with Russian ambassador Kislyak. Comey said that could be an issue as it relates to sharing sensitive information. President Obama asked if Comey was saying that the NSC should not pass sensitive information related to Russia to Flynn. Comey replied “potentially.” He added that he has no indication that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak, but he noted that “the level of communication is unusual.”
You can read the full memo here:
Declassified Susan Rice E-M… by The Federalist on Scribd
Here’s what we now know.
1. Obama And Biden Knew That General Flynn Was Targeted
The FBI investigating General Flynn was a blatant abuse of power that was coordinated by the highest echelon of the Obama administration including the President and the Vice President.
Sean Davis at The Federalist makes that clear.
The newly declassified portions of the Jan. 5 Rice email confirm that the targeting of Flynn was coordinated within the inner sanctum of the White House and that both Obama and Biden were deeply involved in the campaign to take down Flynn.
Documents previously released and declassified showed that the FBI never possessed any evidence that Flynn was a secret Russian agent or that he had broken any laws. An FBI electronic communication closing the agency’s counterintelligence investigation against him, which was dated Jan. 4, made clear that “no derogatory information” about Flynn had been obtained during the months-long investigation of Flynn.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently determined that an ambush FBI interview of Flynn, which later formed the foundation of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s single charge against Flynn, had no legal basis. Contemporaneous handwritten notes from the FBI’s top counterintelligence official at the time show that the FBI’s goal in targeting Flynn in early 2017 was to “prosecute him or get him fired.” DOJ is currently in the process of dismissing all charges against Flynn, citing rank corruption and abuse of power in the FBI’s campaign against Flynn.
Source: The Federalist
2. Susan Rice Lied To The American People…Again
Susan Rice famously appeared on several Sunday shows and lied to Americans about what happened in Benghazi, Libya.
Following that same playbook, she did it again regarding Obamagate.
Back in April 2017, Rep. Devin Nunes(R-CA), who was Chair of the House Intelligence Committee at the time, had said that during the transition, President Trump and key members of his team had been surveilled and potentially unmasked. When Rice appeared on PBS Newshour as that news was breaking and was asked directly about it, she denied knowledge of surveillance of the Trump team, said that she was “surprised” to hear about it, then shifted to Trump’s accusation of wiretapping. She said that any surveillance was “incidental” and legal.
April 2017:
"[Trump] and the people around him may have been caught up in surveillance of foreign individuals and their identities may have been disclosed. Do you know anything about this?"
Susan Rice: "I know nothing about this." pic.twitter.com/ajkvGMfG3b
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 20, 2020
However, the newly released email appeared to indicate Rice had knowledge of the surveillance that took place that led to the “unmasking” of then-incoming National Security Adviser (NSA) Michael Flynn from his communications with the then-Russian ambassador.
The email, which was written on Jan. 20, 2017, documented a Jan. 5 Oval Office meeting with then-President Obama and others, during which he provided guidance on how law enforcement needed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race. Parts of it were released previously, but the section on then-FBI Director James Comey’s response had been classified as “TOP SECRET” until now.
Source: Fox News (Emphasis Added)
3. Comey Distinguished Between The FBI Investigation And “National Security Concerns”
In the redacted paragraph, Rice writes that Comey said that the FBI investigation was being done “by the book” but that there were “national security concerns” because of the contact that the incoming National Security Advisor was having with the Russian Ambassador. John Hinderaker over at Powerline Blog writes, “It has been widely pointed out that Comey’s FBI carried out a criminal investigation against Trump and his associates in the guise of a national security investigation. They are quite different things, but Comey improperly merged the two. You can see the ‘national security perspective’ offered as a distinct rationale in January 2017.”
4. Rice Uses Comey’s Word “Potentially” To Lie To Her Successor
Rice’s representative says that Rice didn’t alter her briefings with Flynn in any way.
In a statement Tuesday evening about the email’s release, a representative for Rice stressed that “no discussion of law enforcement matters or investigations took place, despite accusations to the contrary.” The spokeswoman also insisted the Obama administration did not change the way it briefed Flynn, saying Rice briefed Flynn for more than 12 hours on four separate occasions during the transition.
“Ambassador Rice did not alter the way she briefed Michael Flynn on Russia as a result of Director Comey’s response,” representative Erin Pelton said.
Source: Fox News
Do you believe that?
Ms. Benghazi Was A Spontaneous Protest Because Of A YouTube Video couldn’t find the truth if it was tattooed on her forehead.
Is Rice’s spokesperson saying that Susan Rice briefed Micheal Flynn on the details of Crossfire Hurricane investigating the Trump team and Crossfire Razor was an investigation directed at the incoming National Security Advisor?
That sounds… completely implausible.
It also included the words “thus far” which indicated that the investigation of Flynn was going to continue.
Despite having zero evidence, Susan Rice kept information from her successor under the guise of Flynn “potentially” leaking information to the Russian Ambassador, or perhaps to cover asses.
Which nicely leads us to the next point…
5. This Email Was An Attempt To Cover Everyone’s Asses
Despite Rice’s memo insisting that things were done “by the book” Comey bragged that during the chaotic time of transition, the FBI didn’t behave “by the book” with regard to General Flynn.
The key point is that there was no basis for investigating General Flynn and every person in that Oval Office meeting on January 5, 2017, knew it. So did a whole host of others.
https://twitter.com/Cliff_Sims/status/1255865412660662275?s=20
James Comey already admitted the manner in which he set up the FBI meeting with General Flynn was deliberately not done by the book. So why would anyone believe Susan Rice’s odd, CYA, last-day memo to herself?
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) May 19, 2020
Joe Biden says that he didn’t know about the investigation of General Flynn–but then admits that he did.
"I know nothing about those moves [by the FBI] to investigate Michael Flynn," Joe Biden claimed.
Reminded he was in a January 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting with President Obama and the FBI Director about investigating Flynn, Biden admits "I was aware… but that's all I know." pic.twitter.com/SImLNoqhd7
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) May 12, 2020
How the hell does anyone trust these duplicitous liars?
6. It Shows The Obama Admin’s Corruption Of The “Peaceful Transition Of Power”
This was a clear attempt to kneecap the Trump administration and take down a senior official right from the get-go.
So much for the “peaceful transition of power” between Obama and his successor.
We always hear about how President Trump is “breaking the norms” but that’s not what’s happening. He’s restoring the norms that have been degrading for decades and overtly kicked over during the Obama administration when our Media(D) decided to go on an 8-year hiatus and not report any malfeasance.
Senate Homeland Security Committee chair Ron Johnson(R-WI) appeared on The Story with Martha McCallum on Fox News yesterday and said that the email shows that the Obama team was “sabotaging the incoming administration.”
“The first thought when I read that declassified e-mail was, ‘Why in the world was that ever classified?'” Johnson said. “We didn’t witness what America’s become so famous for, a peaceful, cooperative well-wishing transition of power. Instead, we saw a corruption of that transition. A transition really designed to sabotage and really upend the new administration.
“It’s shameful is what it is. So this this needs to be dug into further. We need to do further investigation,” Johnson added. “You know, my own committee working with others has been really focused on that whole corruption of the transition process.”
Source: Fox News
Acting DNI Richard Grenell is making sure it’s all coming out, though.
Soon, Durham’s report will be released, and if we’re really lucky, we might even see some justice for General Flynn.
