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Former President Donald Trump's efforts to dismiss the Democrats' claims of Russian collusion were dealt a second blow this week after a newly disclosed report revealed that the Justice Department cleared members of the Obama administration over the unmasking of Michael Flynn.

On Wednesday, Buzzfeed News obtained and published the previously classified document from then-U.S. Attorney John Bash's 2020 investigation into the practice of unmasking, one of several probes ordered by Trump's attorney general, William Barr, to undermine investigations into Trump's ties to Russia.

The full report revealed that Bash not only concluded the review without criminal charges, but he had also determined that "no unmasking requests made before Election Day that sought the identity of an apparent associate of the Trump campaign"a conclusion that shattered Trump's allegations.

The release of Bash's findings comes just a day after Michael Sussmann, a lawyer whose firm represented Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, was acquitted of false-statement chargers stemming from Trump's special counsel John Durham's three-year investigation.

Sussmann was accused of lying to federal investigators about his ties to Clinton when he provided a tip about a possible backchannel between Trump's 2016 campaign and Kremlin-backed Alfa Bank.

Throughout his presidency, Trump and other Republicans repeatedly accused senior Obama officials of deliberately targeting his associatesspecifically Flynn, who briefly served as national security adviser to Trumpby using their positions to request their names be revealed on certain intelligence documents.

While Bash's decision not to prosecute anyone was reported back in 2020, the full 52-page report revealed just how resoundingly the details of the investigation rejected Trump's claims.

"I have not found evidence that senior U.S. officials unmasked the identities of U.S. persons contained in intelligence reports for political purposes or other inappropriate reasons during the 2016 election period or the ensuing transition period," Bash wrote in his report.

Examining "whether any senior officials had obtained General Flynn's identity in connection with those communications through an unmasking request made during the transition period," Bash concluded: "The answer is no."

Bash found that while the FBI shared transcripts of Flynn's calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak outside the Bureau without masking Flynn's name, "Nothing about the content suggests that officials were seeking derogatory information about General Flynn or were otherwise inappropriately targeting him."

Although Flynn pleaded guilty to a felony count of "willingly and knowingly" making false statements denying his discussion of sanctions with Kislyak in 2017, Barr's DOJ dismissed the case against him and Flynn was later pardoned by Trump before he left office.

Newsweek reached out to Trump for comment.

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Trump Takes Another Hit After Obama Officials Cleared of Flynn Unmasking

Michelle Obama is a historic First Lady.

As the first Black woman to ever hold the coveted title, the woman born Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in Chicago, IL, was put under a microscope almost from the moment her husband, President Barack Obama, took office.

Fortunately, however, Mrs. Obama handled the newfound pressure with her trademark grace.

Being the first Black anything is gonna be hard, she told Robin Roberts of Good Morning America. I knew, as the first Black first lady, I couldnt presume anything Id have to earn my grace.

Today, Michelle Obama has more than earned her grace. As AfroTech previously reported, shes earned a $70 million net worth, inked a separate deal with Spotify for her own podcast, hosted voter drives to encourage young people to vote, and even got inducted into the National Womens Hall of Fame.

And thats just the beginning.

But where Mrs. Obama really shines is in her ability to influence markets. More than just being a pretty face to look at, and endorse products, Mrs. Obama is a veritable business powerhouse. Vanity Fair revealed an estimate that said in the eight years that she was First Lady, Michelle Obama drove more than $2.7 billion to the retail sector.

In 2010, New York University business professor David Yermack, calculated that Obamas fashion choices alone have driven $2.7 billion to the retail sector, Vanity Fair reported in 2016.

Whats more, the outlet also said that companies saw a 2.3 percent stock gain when she dons their productsfive times that of a typical celebrity endorsement.

Lets take a look at a few other deals that have experienced The Michelle Obama Effect.

Editorial note: The net worth listed in this piece is a speculative estimate drawn from a variety of online sources.

When Barack and Michelle Obamas Spotify deal was announced back in 2020, the NASDAQ reported that the streaming companys stock jumped by five percent on the day of the announcement.

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Spotifys total monthly active users and premium subscribers both increased by 31% year over year, to 286 million and 130 million, respectively, in the first quarter, the report said.

Throughout the entire time that President Barack Obama was in office, First Lady Michelle Obama had quite the impact on fashion.

Jackie Kennedy may have popularized pillbox hats and capes, but David Yermak of the Harvard Business Review points out that only Michelle Obama was actually able to move markets with her fashion choices.

The stock price gains of the companies whose clothes she wore in public appearances29 brands in allare cumulative abnormal returns. That is, the returns cannot be attributed to normal market variations, he wrote. Some companies that sell clothes that Obama frequently wears, such as Saks, have realized long-term gains.

Further, according to the Harvard Business Review, Michelle Obamas effect on the market is based on a two-fold observation. One, she wasnt paid to wear designers and observers can therefore put more trust into her tacit endorsement than, say, in a fashion spreads tacit endorsement. And two, Mrs. Obama doesnt just wear unaffordable haute couture. Rather, she pairs couture pieces with prt--porter pieces (like, for instance, from J. Crew), which makes it more accessible to the average consumer.

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Inside The Estimate That Says Michelle Obama Drove $2.7B To The Retail ...

Theyre changing the culture of government!

Michelle Obamas When We All Vote is hosting its first-ever Culture of Democracy Summit.

The When We All Vote initiative was launched in 2018 by Obamawith the aim of creating a nonpartisan grassroots movement that changed the culture of voting. Since then, Obama has been integral in lending her celebrity to a number of high profile, culturally transformative events. Through leveraging moments like #ClubQuarantine with DJ D-Nice and The Roots Picnic with The Legendary Roots Crew, she has been able to fulfill her mission of increasing voter registration and closing the race and age gap among voters.

Now the initiative has announced its first-ever Culture of Democracy Summit, looking to extendits influence to the whole of government, partnering with a number of industry leaders to discuss the role different industries play in protecting and strengthening democracy through voter registration, education, mobilization and culture change, a press release reads. The hybrid event will take place in Los Angeles, with virtualprogramming on the first day followed by in-person experiences on the second and third days. Obama, who serves as founder and Co-Chair of When We All Vote will be the keynote speaker.

Co-Chairs Janelle Mone, Kerry Washington, and Liza Koshy will also be in attendance alongside When We All Vote ambassadors Tracee Ellis Ross, Loni Love, and rapper Jeezy. Other speakers include journalist Nikole Hannah Jones, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Common, social justice advocate Alexis McGill Johnson, entertainment journalist Gia Peppers, Campaign Legal Center advocate Gicola Lane, actor Jay Ellis, NBA Players Association President CJ McCollum, WNBA Players Association President Nneka Ogwumike, Co-Chair of the Poor Peoples Campaign Rev. Dr. William Joseph Barber II, Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Magic Johnson, and more.

The event is sponsored by a number of prominent organizations including Airbnb, BET, Live Nation Urban, Lyft, Sony Music Group, MTV, and the MacArthur Foundation. The main goalis to bring together influencers from all types of sectors to elevate the national conversation around protecting and expanding democracy.

The Culture of Democracy Summit is set to take place June 10 through June 13, just in time for the midterm elections. For more information about the event, click here.

Photo Courtesy of Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

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Michelle Obama's 'When We All Vote' Hosts First-Ever Culture Of Democracy Summit - Because of Them We Can

Former Attorney General Eric Holder predicted America could fall into political apartheid thanks to an unjust concentration of power in a Monday interview.

We are in danger of slipping into a what I would call a political apartheid system where a minority of the people in this country will have disproportionate amounts of power and be able to put in place things that are not supported by the majority, Holder said in an interview with Jonathan Capehart on Washington Post Live. Again, the evidence is concrete about this. (RELATED: Brit Hume Calls Out WaPo For Trashing Barr But Giving Wingman Eric Holder A Pass)

Holder, who served in the Obama administration, referenced the Supreme Courts upcoming decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, in which a leaked draft apparently indicated that the high court could overturn Roe v. Wade.

[T[he minority of the will represented by the majority that was put on the Supreme Court by two presidents who did not win the majority of the vote, because of our Electoral College, will have the ability to foist on the nation a policy with regard to reproductive rights that is not supported by the people of this country, Holder said.

Holder told Capehart that two presidents who lost the popular vote but who secured a majority of votes in the Electoral College appointed justices who would foist on the nation a policy with regard to reproductive rights that is not supported by the people of this country.

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And you see it in a whole range of other issues, Holder added, mentioning criminal justice reform and gun control.

The Supreme Court is also due to issue an opinion regarding New Yorks laws regarding concealed carry licenses after hearing arguments in November 2021.

The House of Representatives voted to hold Holder in contempt of Congress over his failure to produce subpoenaed documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious in 2012, but the Justice Department declined to indict him.

Holder did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

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Political Apartheid: Scandal-Plagued Obama AG Makes Bizarre Prediction About The Future Of America - Daily Caller

This is an excerpt from the latest episode of Everyone & Their Mom, a new show from Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or listen on NPR One, and you can find us on Instagram.

Host Emma Choi shares the latest in graduation news with Wait Wait panelist Hari Kondabolu (and no, it's not that another one of your high school bullies is going to nursing school): The U.S. has a major cap and gown shortage. Shipments are being held up at every stage of the process, and high schools and universities all over America are being affected. On the plus side, fewer people will have to wear this unflattering outfit.

Hari and Emma also realize that giving a speech at a graduation isn't so different from delivering a tight 5. While he may not be donning a cap and gown anytime soon, Hari drafts up what his next commencement speech might sound like.

Who better to edit Hari's speech than Sarada Peri, one of President Obama's former speechwriters? While she didn't do a full-on Obama impression, her job required her to reorient her brain to think like the President. So in a way, she's a method actor.

Peri has written TONS of graduation speeches, so Emma asks for her advice on being the most inspirational commencement speaker of all time.

Turns out, Hari isn't new to giving graduation speeches; in 2012, he gave a commencement speech to the graduating class of his alma mater, Townsend Harris High School in Queens, NY. Emma talks to Jonathan Apana who was in the audience for Hari's impactful commencement address.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about secret messages and play along with our quizzes. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or listen on NPR One, and you can find us on Instagram.

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How to write a graduation speech, with help from Obama's former speechwriter : Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - NPR