Flynn's name was never 'masked' in FBI report on phone call with Russian

WASHINGTON — In a blow to GOP efforts to create a cloud of scandal around so-called "unmasking," two sources familiar with the matter tell NBC News that then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's name was never redacted from the FBI intelligence report about his conversation with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.

Flynn has admitted lying to the FBI about a phone call with then Amb. Sergey Kislyak.

The lack of masking was first reported in the Washington Post.

Flynn's name was unmasked in other intelligence reports about other conversations he had with foreigners, but not the one about the Dec. 29 phone call that got him in legal trouble, the sources said.

That call with Kislyak was monitored by the FBI under a FISA warrant covering Kislyak, as is standard practice, current and former officials have said. Many former ambassadors and foreign officials working in the U.S. are monitored by the FBI as part of routine counterintelligence inquiries.

A former senior intelligence official explained that FBI reports based on FISA collection, unlike reports from the National Security Agency, generally do not "mask" the names of U.S. persons because the FBI is a domestic law enforcement agency and the conduct of Americans is part of its purview.

Unmasking is a routine practice by which senior officials with security clearances request to learn the names of Americans who are overheard speaking to foreigners if the names are deemed important to understanding the intelligence. The names are otherwise usually redacted or "masked."

Trump's Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and Barr declassified a list of Obama administration officials who unmasked the names of Americans speaking to foreigners in NSA-generated reports as part of their review of Russian election interference information. Grenell turned it over to Senate Republicans, who are investigating.

Republicans have suggested that the unmasking was an improper effort to implicate Trump allies in a Russian election interference conspiracy, while former Obama administration officials say they had ample reason to want to scour the intelligence, given the serious and unprecedented nature of the Russian covert operation.