FBI Wiretapped The Phone Calls At Center Of Michael Flynn Leak

The FBI wiretapped phone calls between a Russian ambassador and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn that were the subject of a classified leak to The Washington Post in early 2017, the newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Flynn’s identity was not masked in a transcript that the FBI created after Flynn’s phone calls with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, the Post also reported, citing former U.S. officials.

The revelation, which confirms analysis from the Daily Caller News Foundation this week, helps explain why the Flynn-Kislyak call was not the subject of an unmasking request listed in a document that Senate Republicans released on May 13.

The document listed 39 Obama administration officials who submitted requests for intelligence reports that identified Flynn in National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence reports drafted between Nov. 8, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017.