As new details surrounding the Susan Rice “unmasking” scandal continue to slowly leak out, President Trump told a group of reporters at the White House earlier today that he is convinced that the former national security adviser to President Obama may have committed a crime by seeking the identities of his associates who were ‘incidentally surveilled.”
Per the New York Times, while Trump refused to offer any additional details pending an ongoing investigation, he described the scandal as “one of the big stories of our time” and vowed to follow-up “at the right time.”
“I think it’s going to be the biggest story,” Mr. Trump said in an interview in the Oval Office, declining repeated requests for evidence for his allegations or the names of other Obama administration officials. “It’s such an important story for our country and the world. It is one of the big stories of our time.”
He declined to say if he had personally reviewed new intelligence to bolster his claim but pledged to explain himself “at the right time.”
When asked if Ms. Rice, who has denied leaking the names of Trump associates under surveillance by United States intelligence agencies, had committed a crime, the president said, “Do I think? Yes, I think.”
Of course, as we noted earlier, if anyone expects former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, the same Susan Rice who “stretched the truth” repeatedly about Benghazi, to unilaterally admit she did something wrong they will be severly disappointed. Instead, just yesterday she took an interview on the always Obama-friendly Andrea Mitchell show on MSNBC to categorically deny that the Obama administration inappropriately spied on members of the Trump transition team.
“The allegation is that somehow, Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes…That’s absolutely false…. My job is to protect the American people and the security of our country.”
“There was no such collection or surveillance on Trump Tower or Trump individuals, it is important to understand, directed by the White House or targeted at Trump individuals.”
EXCLUSIVE: Susan Rice says the claim that intelligence was used for political purposes is “absolutely false” Watch: https://t.co/JdbgCtSgEN
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 4, 2017
Rice also flatly denied exposing President Trump’s former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign in February after media reports revealed that he misled Vice President Pence about the contents of a phone call with the Russian ambassador.
Asked by Mitchell if she sought to unmask the names of people involved in the Trump campaign in order to spy on them, Rice says: “absolutely not, for any political purpose, to spy, expose, anything.” And yet, that is what happened. She was then asked if she leaked the name of Mike Flynn: “I leaked nothing to nobody.”
WATCH: Susan Rice insists “I leaked nothing to nobody” https://t.co/kAsbu4VJDN
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 4, 2017
Of course, only time will tell which version of the truth proves to be accurate and/or whether this is just another attempt by Republicans to “criminalize behavior that is normal.“
via http://ift.tt/2nL4sU2 Tyler Durden