Ahead of election, Trump attacks Russia probe and Democrats

President Donald Trump and Republicans are launching a broad election-year attack on foundation of Russia investigation, including declassifying intelligence information to try to place senior Obama administration officials under scrutiny for routine actions.

effort has been aided by a Justice Department decision to dismiss its prosecution of former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, an action that rewrites narrative of case in a way that former federal law enforcement officials say downplays legitimate national security concerns y believe Flynn’s actions raised and consequences of lies he pleaded guilty to telling.

dismissal decision comes as Trump and his Republican allies push to reframe Russia investigation as a “deep state” plot to sabot his administration, setting st for a fresh onslaught of attacks on past and present Democratic officials and law enforcement leaders.

“His goal is that by end of this, you’re just t really sure what happened and at some gut level eugh Americans say, ‘It’s kind of messy,’” said Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer.

latest indication of that came Wednesday when two Republican critics of Russia investigation, Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, disclosed a list of names of Obama administration officials who y say may have received Flynn’s identity from intelligence reports in 2016 and 2017. Among names is Trump’s Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, who was vice president when Russia probe began.

Names of Americans are routinely hidden, or minimized, in intelligence reports that describe routine, legal surveillance of foreign targets. U.S. officials must make a specific request if y want to kw person’s identity, or “unmask” m.

Biden and or officials had full authority to seek name of unidentified American in reports — it turned out to be Flynn — and did so through proper channels, according to Trump administration documents. Rar than reveal any actual wrongdoing, release of information by president’s allies seems designed to create suspicion around Biden and or senior Democrats as vember election approaches.

Trump hyped disclosure of list with Biden’s name as a “massive thing.” But Biden campaign dismissed revelation, with spokesman Andrew Bates saying it simply indicates “ breadth and depth of concern across American government” at time about Flynn’s conversations with foreign representatives. ne of officials could have kwn beforehand that unidentified person in reports was Flynn, Bates said.

requests for information came as U.S. officials were scrutinizing Russian election interference on Trump’s behalf and trying to determine wher Trump associates were involved in that effort.

issue has been politically charged since early 2017, when it was revealed that Flynn had discussed sanctions during presidential transition period with Russia’s n-U.S. ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. Flynn later pleased guilty to lying to FBI about those talks with Kislyak.

U.S. officials may ask National Security ncy to disclose to m names of Americans who are swept up in surveillance of foreigners and whose identities are concealed in intelligence reports if y believe identity is essential in understanding intelligence — and y do so thousands of times a year.

In fact, unmasking requests increased in first years of Trump administration from 2015-2016 totals during latter years of Obama administration, according to a government transparency report issued last month.

list declassified by Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist and acting national intelligence director, shows a broad range of U.S. officials submitted requests to NSA between v. 8, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017, to unmask identity of an American who was revealed to be Flynn, according to a cover letter accompanying release.

It is unclear if y actually viewed unmasked information.

Flynn’s call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak occurred in late December 2016. Many of requests to unmask his identity took place before n, as well as in weeks that followed. content of intelligence reports was t disclosed.

highly unusual disclosure comes as Trump, scrambling to man coronavirus crisis, has been er to shift focus elsewhere. He has repeatedly prounced Flynn “exonerated” and pushed a loosely defined “Obamagate” allegation that previous administration tried to undermine him during presidential transition.

Trump has tried to rally his supporters around claim to revive enthusiasm among voters disappointed by his handling of pandemic. He used first 20 minutes of a recent Fox News interview to attack Obama administration rar than offer updates on pandemic.

He has increasingly lashed out in year since Mueller’s report, which identified substantial contacts between Trump associates and Russia but did t accuse him of a crime or allege a criminal conspiracy between his campaign and Kremlin. Revelations since n have exposed problems in early days of FBI’s probe, including errors and omissions in applications to surveil an ex-Trump campaign adviser.

Attorney General William Barr has said dropping case against Flynn was in interests of justice. department says FBI had insufficient grounds for interviewing Flynn about his “entirely appropriate” calls with ambassador and that any imperfect statements he made during interview weren’t material to broader counterintelligence investigation into Trump campaign.

But decision stunned former law enforcement officials involved in case, including some who say Justice Department is rewriting history and omitting key context.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said FBI was obligated to interview Flynn about his conversations with Kislyak, and that Flynn’s lies compounded bureau’s concerns.

And because White House officials were inaccurately asserting that Flynn had never discussed sanctions with Kislyak, U.S. officials were concerned Flynn could be vulnerable to blackmail since Russia also knew what was discussed.

“Mr. Flynn was set to become national security adviser, and it was untenable that Russia — which intelligence community had just assessed had sought to interfere in U.S. presidential election — might have lever over him,” Mary McCord, Justice Department’s top national security official at time, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece in which she accused Barr of misrepresenting her viewpoints.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has yet to rule on Justice Department’s dismissal request and has indicated he is t inclined to do so swiftly.