President Donald Trump's acting intelligence chief says he will push for the release of the full transcripts of Michael Flynn's phone call to the Russian ambassador.
Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, responded to criticism from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) by announcing he'd started the declassification process for the transcripts before leaving office, reported the Federalist.
"The IC doesn’t have all the transcripts/summaries....it wasn’t our product," Grenell tweeted, confirming that report. "It’s odd that @AdamSchiff doesn’t know this. But I already started the declassification for the few we received. They should be released in full, though. The public deserves to see it."
Schiff had accused the Trump administration of abusing the classification system by releasing information for political reasons.
"It’s clear the Administration is selectively declassifying information for purely political purposes, an abuse of the classification system," Schiff tweeted. "We need to ensure a transparent and complete public record free of political manipulation. It’s time to declassify any Flynn transcripts."
The administration is engaged in a legal and political battle to get Flynn's guilty pleas overturned after the Republican Senate minority acquitted the president in an impeachment process led by Schiff.
Grenell will be replaced on a permanent basis by Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), a staunch Trump defender in the impeachment inquiry who had been considered for the DNI role as the events that led to constitutional process first came to light in late summer 2019.
