Prez, aides knew FBI had no collusion proof
yet Flynn-Kislyak talk was leaked anyway
from among 40 high-level 'unmaskers'
The declassified part of Susan Rice's Jan. 20, 2017, memo demonstrates that FBI Director James Comey had absolutely no indication of espionage, collusion or improper activity on the part of Donald Trump's incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn. The basis for Comey's suspicion was that, in his opinion, Flynn spoke with Kislyak too much. Yet, clearly, Comey knew that the content of the talks were within the bounds of normal diplomacy.
It is quite curious that a paragraph that tends to support Flynn's innocence remained classified for so long.
Here are Rice's words:
Director Comey affirmed that he is proceeding "by the book" as it relates to law enforcement.1 From a national security perspective,2 Comey said that he does have some concerns3 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."4 He added that he had no information thus far5 that Flynn had passed classified information to Kislyak, but had noted that "the level of communication is unusual."6
1. Question: Is Rice for some reason excluding the intelligence side of the FBI, which is separate from its law enforcement side?
2. Does this imply the phrase "from a non-law enforcement perspective"?
3. In other words, Comey has no evidence of a crime.
4. Comey's ambiguous answer shows that he had nothing on Flynn.
5. Either Comey or Rice or both wished to insinuate that damaging information on Flynn might be imminent.
6. It's not an FBI director's job to pass judgment on the style of diplomacy conducted by a presidential aide, nor is it his job to imply that the level of communication was inappropriate, which is a policy decision. We know that Rice disapproved of Flynn trying to upgrade Red China as America's Number 1 adversary, while demoting Russia from that status.
Rice was avoiding scapegoat role -- analyst
http://tiny.cc/ylhgpz
Rice, Flynn duck behind intel shield
After the redacted paragraph was declassified, both Rice and Obama have been at pains to deny that Obama was involved in anything from a "law enforcement perspective." A Rice spokeswoman tried to deflect attention by accusing Trump supporters of a "dishonest" focus on law enforcement -- implying that a focus on intelligence was OK in that situation.
Rice, through a spokeswoman, is calling for the transcripts of the Flynn-Kislyak talks to be released. That would be fine, as long as transcripts of Rice's phone calls with Red China's envoys are also released.
Another important point: The declassified paragraph demonstrates that the FBI had no legitimate reason to interview Flynn from an adversarial perspective, as Comey knew that no law enforcement issue had come up.
Though I am very eager to see both the Flynn-Kislyak transcripts and the Rice-Red envoy transcripts, it appears to me that Rice's call for the declassification of diplomatic conversations is rather odd, coming from a former diplomat. Our State Department and the foreign ministries of other countries continually talk and dicker with each other on the assumption of privacy. Diplomacy cannot go on in total secret, but if envoys cannot be guaranteed some level of privacy, then diplomacy cannot be conducted.
