The unprecedented disclosure, which was declassified by Pres. Trump's hand-picked acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, carried no allegations of wrongdoing among the 39 officials named on the list.
Federal judge Emmett Sullivan took the rare step after the Justice Department concluded that Flynn’s lies to the FBI about his contacts with a Russian ambassador were not “material.”Republican lawmakers on Wednesday released a list of Obama administration officials the National Security Agency said may have received former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's identity in response to so-called 'unmasking' requests during the presidential transition.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , Jan. 22, 2017, in Washington, DC.The NSA, in handing over the list, noted that each person named was"an authorized recipient" of the intelligence which"was approved through NSA's standard process.
The ODNI did not provide any additional explanation behind the list's disclosure. The Justice Department, which received the list last week from Grenell, has said they would"take note of" the list if it had any relevance to a separate investigation looking into the origins of the Russia probe. In addition to the fact that the NSA said they could not confirm that those named on the list even saw Flynn's name, it said that only 16 of the 39 officials had actually requested the information that generated his name. Therefore, the list did not distinguish between those who may have directly requested the information that resulted in Flynn's name being released and those who may have received it as a result of a request made by someone else.
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