[MortMan]

The rampant unmasking may have impact, though. Especially given his actual role at the time (cabinet designee)

[Alberta's Child]

I agree with that. I do question, though, just what the legal ramifications of that unmasking might have been. My understanding is that he wasn't subject to the legal protections against unmasking because he was caught up in surveillance involving a phone call outside the U.S. -- when he spoke with Russian ambassador Kislyak on his cell phone while he (Flynn) was on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

That itself ought to raise a number of giant red flags for a lot of people. It seems astonishing that senior national security nominee would be so reckless that he'd make a sensitive phone call like that from a Third World dump.