Tuesday, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, demanded answers from the FBI regarding the recording and subsequent leaks of former National Security Advisor (NSA) Michael Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
“I expect for the FBI to tell me what is going on, and they better have a good answer…The big problem I see here is that you have an American citizen who had his phone calls recorded.”
However, The Washington Post reports that “[Flynn’s] conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were intercepted because the Russians’ calls are routinely monitored.” If that’s indeed the case, Nunes has his answer as to why Flynn’s communications were being monitored.
As for the leaks, that’s another, more complicated story.
According to The Washington Free Beacon, anonymous officials are claiming that a group of “Obama loyalists,” possibly including Ben Rhodes, have been working for months to discredit General Flynn because the former NSA, who has been openly critical of the Iranian nuclear agreement, was “preparing to publicize many of the details…that had been intentionally hidden by the Obama administration as part of its effort to garner support for the deal.”
Another source, who “serves as a congressional adviser and was involved in the 2015 fight over the Iran deal” claims the systematic campaign began approximately two months ago:
“The Obama administration knew that Flynn was going to release the secret documents around the Iran deal, which would blow up their myth that it was a good deal that rolled back Iran…So in December the Obama NSC started going to work with their favorite reporters, selectively leaking damaging and incomplete information about Flynn.”
There are additional concerns that Flynn was simply the first target of many, and that if the Trump administration doesn’t identify and purge suspect officials, more targets will fall. According to a Free Beacon source, there are operatives both inside and outside the administration working to “undermine Trump.”
It’s highly unlikely that Flynn is the only individual with knowledge of the allegedly hidden details regarding the Iran nuclear deal. If that’s the case, it’s also unlikely that Flynn will be the final target.
If the Free Beacon sources are to be believed, we can expect more hits to high-level Trump administration officials in the coming weeks and months.
