What in the world is going on here?

Republican Senators Grassley and Graham sent a request for clarification to former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice last week.

In the request, the Senators posed 12 questions, all centered around one email Rice sent to herself on inauguration day, in the final moments of her tenure in the White House. The committee came across the email during their ongoing investigation into the FBI/Steele Dossier cluster.

Rice emailed herself, documenting a conversation with President Obama, then FBI Director James Comey, then Deputy AG Sally Yates, and then Vice President Biden.

The email reads as follows:

Speculation is wide-ranging. Did Rice purposely document a conversation in order to present a version of events that might not be congruent with the truth? Was she attempting to make the investigation into Russian election interference look above board? Or, and I believe most likely, did she simply email herself a rundown of the meeting because she failed to do so elsewhere?

Nevertheless, the timing of the email is what has many brows raised. That she went out of her way to include President Obama’s insistence on a “by the book” investigation is also a bit…odd. But it might be true. It might also be otherwise.

Last year, Rice landed in hot water when reports surfaced that she’d “unmasked” the names of Trump campaign and transition officials. Rice never denied the reports, only obfuscated. The story became stranger when Rice had the unmasking records sent to Obama’s Presidential Library…which hasn’t been built yet. Those records may not be available for at least four more years.

As with everything in the nasty mess of Russia/FBI/Trump investigations and scandals, the piecemeal publication of information like this only raises more questions than it answers. It’s virtually impossible to understand the whole picture when all we have is a tiny little piece. But it’s hard to assume this email is completely harmless when dropping it into the context of Rice’s history of overt interference for the Obama administration.

Senate request here:

Senate Judiciary Committee Request for Clarification on Susan Rice Email by Legal Insurrection on Scribd



