The Trump administration's new national intelligence director waded into political waters in his first week on the
Job, declassifying documents that allies of the president say bolster their contention that former national security adviser Michael Flynn was wrongly pursued.
The extraordinary decision to release transcripts of Flynn's calls with a foreign country's ambassador, a closely guarded secret for more than three years, is part of an ongoing
Trump Administration effort to disclose information from the
Russia investigation in hopes of painting Obama-era officials in a bad light and suggesting they acted improperly.
The transcripts of calls with Sergey Kislyak, the
Russian ambassador at the time, provide opportunities for partisans on both sides to advance their perspectives of the investigation.