As one of his last actions before leaving his post, former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard “Ric” Grenell has declassified the transcripts of the wiretapped phone conversations between former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Additionally, it appears that Grenell has declassified some of the origination documents from the CIA and U.S. intel community that were manipulated in the assembly of the Intelligence Community Assessment (an aspect of particular importance to USAO John John Durham).  As we suspected Ric Grenell is leaving the decision, and timing for their release to incoming DNI John Ratcliffe.

WASHINGTON DC – Richard Grenell has declassified a new batch of Russia probe documents on his way out as acting director of national intelligence, leaving the decision on whether to make those files public up to newly sworn-in Director John Ratcliffe.

The documents include transcripts of phone calls that then-incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak had in December 2016, during the presidential transition period.

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Tomorrow morning ends the tenure of Richard “Ric” Grenell as the acting Director of National Intelligence.  At 12:15pm DNI John Ratcliffe will be sworn-in [LINK] and the declassification/sunlight baton will be passed to senate confirmed DNI John Ratcliffe.

On the topic of the FBI capture and use of the December 29, 2016, Flynn-Kislyak phone call…  First we had a hunch; then it became a suspicion… that evolved into a likelihood… that has now become a strong probability.

The capture of the December 29th phone call, which generated the raw “CR cuts“, was an FBI summary, modified for a specific interpretation.  Much like the missing 302 there is now a very strong probability the FBI ‘CR cuts’ do not represent the actual call content.

Within a twitter response by Grenell, part of the riddle behind the transcripts gets a little more clarity: “The IC doesn’t have all the transcripts/summaries…. it wasn’t our product.”

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When contemplating the malign activity of Rod Rosenstein; and how angered President Trump is with former AG Jeff Sessions; it is worth remembering that Sessions requested Rod Rosenstein as his deputy, and then immediately thereafter Sessions recused himself, effectively positioning Rosenstein to run the operation against President Trump.

That’s the background context for a great interview by Gregg Jarrett where Jarrett walks through the timeline of events with former HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes. At the 5:30 point of the interview, Nunes identifies Rosenstein as part of the coup attempt and blasts him for how Rosenstein structured the fraudulent scope memos.

Nunes says his investigation is now looking at the part of the effort where Robert Mueller’s investigation was used as part of the initiating effort to remove President Trump. With the focus on the Mueller team, Nunes is now making additional criminal referrals based on his findings. WATCH:

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The Obama-era surveillance network is at the center of all of this.

It’s worth remembering Sharyl Attkisson has identified Rosenstein as a defendant in her lawsuit about illegal surveillance operations carried out while she was a CBS reporter.

According to the lawsuit (full pdf) Rod Rosenstein, as the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, was in charge of the Obama 2011 and 2012 operation to monitor journalists specific to Ms. Attkisson’s reporting on Fast-n-Furious and Benghazi.

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It’s a question that has been asked several times: why is FBI Director Christopher Wray now starting an internal review of those within the FBI who were engaged with the events around Lt. General Michael Flynn.  Why did he wait so long?

In this interview Representative Andy Biggs discusses that question.  WATCH:

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The most likely answer is simply sunlight.  The corrupt FBI activity was clearly evident within the organization in 2018 and 2019.  However, the recent change is the public awareness of it with documented evidence.

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The defensive posture by those attempting to deflect attention from the political unmasking requests made by the Obama-era administration and embed career officials is to highlight the volume of unmasking requests made in 2017 and 2018.

This is presented in a good question received via Twitter:

“Sundance what is your take on this fact that’s getting thrown around about 16,000 unmaskings in 2018? Wallace makes sure to point that out, and that it is not a crime itself, but leaking it is a crime. Although if the unmasking isn’t for the purpose stated it should be a crime.”

The answer is really quite simple. Think about what the Special Counsel’s office [Mueller Team] previously explained about the SCO investigation… These requests flowed through a very facilitating DNI Dan Coats and explains the vast majority of “unmasking” requests:

Again, in order for the media to retain their resistance bona fides, and keep the flow of their cocktail party invites, they have to pretend not to know things.

Carry on.

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The Washington Post headline reads (emphasis mine): “Federal judge hires high-powered D.C. attorney to defend his actions in Flynn case.” Which gives some insight into the framework and purpose of this event, and how it reached the WaPo narrative engineers.

The Washington Post is, as an institution, adverse to the interests of Michael Flynn.  So this story, specifically the events behind the story, are written in a posture to aid Judge Sullivan and oppose Flynn.  Keep that in mind (I’ll explain after).

Judge Sullivan has hired a high profile DC lawyer to assist him in responding to the inquires of the DC circuit:

WASHINGTON DC – […] In a rare step that adds to this criminal case’s already unusual path, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has retained Beth Wilkinson to represent him in defending his decision to a federal appeals court in Washington, according to a person familiar with the hire who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

[…] Wilkinson, known for her top-notch legal skills and get-results style, is expected to file a notice with the court in the coming week about representing the judge. She declined to comment when reached Friday evening. Sullivan also declined to comment through his office.

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Long term CTH readers will not find this surprising, but it’s nice to see it starting to be said/admitted openly:

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State Dept. and Defense Dept. embeds primarily operate through CNN.  CIA embeds primarily operate through The Washington Post. FBI embeds primarily work through The New York Times; and Politico carries a blend.  Fox is the controlled opposition.

Researchers who travel the deep weeds of U.S. politics have noted this very predictable pattern has been very visible for well over two decades.

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Well this is an interesting development.  The goal of the lockdown to “flatten the curve” in Michigan has now morphed into eliminating a mysterious second-wave of the COVID-19 virus that no-one has actually identified.

The rules are now justified to prevent the appearance of a ghost virus.

With a mysterious and invisible new-phase of the virus to battle, the Michigan stay home lock-down can possibly be extended to infinity.

According to the Detroit Free Press: [Whitmer] said while coronavirus cases and deaths are clearly declining, “we are not out of the woods yet.”

“If we’re going to lower the chance of a second wave and continue to protect our neighbors and loved ones from the spread of this virus, we must continue to do our part by staying safer at home,” she said in a statement first reported by the Free Press. (read more)

See what Comrade Whitmer is doing there?  The objective that grants her unilateral control over the lives of all citizens, has morphed to “lowering the chance of a second wave” as the hot new justification legalizing her totalitarian dictates.  Slick move.

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Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard “Ric” Grenell announced today he is in the process of declassifying the transcripts of the calls between Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Within a twitter response by Grenell, part of the riddle behind the transcripts gets a little more clarity: “The IC doesn’t have all the transcripts/summaries…. it wasn’t our product.”

The implication here is the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) did not generate one of the transcripts; that evolved into an FBI equity, and was later used in their case against Lt. General Michael Flynn. The December 29, 2016, intercept was not exclusive to the U.S. intelligence apparatus, and the call summary became proprietary to the FBI; the agency exploiting the underlying content.

This makes sense and explains how the FBI was able to manipulate the framework of the call and keep the remaining U.S. intelligence system away from their internal plan.

There was more than one phone call and conversation between Flynn and Kislyak.  Some immediately after the election and in/around mid-December 2016.  Reports of those contacts and communications WERE in the U.S. IC network and those reports led to unmasking requests.  However, the specific December 29th communication was not an exclusive intercept of the U.S. intelligence community and therefore easier for the FBI to shape.

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This is not a surprising development; though with breaking news it is prudent to pause before assigning motives.  At first review it appears the FBI cannot hold back the sunlight.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has announced his launching of an internal investigation based on details surfacing from the Michael Flynn case. “FBI Director Christopher Wray today ordered the Bureau’s Inspection Division [INSD] to conduct an after-action review of the Michael Flynn investigation” the bureau said in the statement:

(screen grab from Catherine Herridge)

This is an interesting development considering this same FBI Director previously claimed the office of inspector general found no intentional wrongdoing by people within the FBI; and Wray further asserted there was “no evidence of political bias” after each of three OIG investigations completed in 2018 and 2019.

If the OIG did not find FBI wrongdoing, then what changed?  Why is FBI Director Chris Wray now launching an internal investigation?  The answer appears to be an outsider’s investigation via Missouri U.S. Attorney, Jeff Jensen.

Second part of statement below:

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