Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel FeinsteinSenators offer disaster tax relief bill Democrats back away from quick reversal of Trump tax cuts Congress must save the Postal Service from collapse — our economy depends on it MORE (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that former national security adviser Susan Rice should reconsider her decision not to testify before a Senate panel.

"I think she ought to consider it," Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on MSNBC's "MTP Daily," explaining that Rice has already defended herself in the press.

"She has gone public. I saw her on Fareed’s show Sunday. I saw her today," Feinstein said.

President Trump accused Rice last month of improperly requesting the identities of members of his transition team that were incidentally swept up in intelligence collections last year.

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Appearing Sunday on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," Rice denied that she did anything "untoward" with the intelligence that she received while serving in the Obama White House.

Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamSenate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Loeffler calls for hearing in wake of Netflix's 'Cuties' Quinnipiac poll shows Graham, Harrison tied in South Carolina Senate race MORE (R-S.C.), however, said Tuesday that he wanted Rice to testify before the panel's subcommittee on crime and terrorism, which he chairs, as part of a wider congressional probe into Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election.

But a lawyer for Rice wrote in a letter to Graham and the subcommittee's top Democrat, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon WhitehouseRestaurant owner defends calamari as 'bipartisan' after Democratic convention appearance Warren calls on McConnell to bring Senate back to address Postal Service Senate Democrats demand answers on migrant child trafficking during pandemic MORE (R.I.), on Wednesday that Rice would not appear before the panel, saying Whitehouse had not agreed to the initial invitation.

Feinstein appeared skeptical of that argument.

"I’ve never heard that it has to be a bipartisan letter — this is sort of a new criteria," she said.

The California Democrat also argued that Rice had all but given up her ability to distance herself from the matter by appearing on news shows to publicly defend herself against the unmasking allegations.

"She’s certainly within her rights of saying, 'I’m now retired, I’m not going to do it,' " Feinstein said. "But because she went forward and did press, I would hope she would consider doing it."