Wednesday on CNN’s “At This Hour,” failed 2016 presidential candidate Evan McMullin said former National Security Adviser Susan Rice did not do anything wrong with the unmasking of names of Trump associates after the election during the transition period.

When asked if he believes Rice did anything wrong, McMullin said, “No, I don’t. This is an orchestrated distraction by the White House and by then Chairman Nunes of the House Intelligence Committee. That’s what this is. Everybody including former directors of Central Intelligence and others, people who are reporting on the matter, CNN most recently, anyone with any credibility on this topic sees right through the charade.”

“That’s exactly what it is,” he continued. “It’s an effort, I believe, and this is my assessment at this point, but I believe this is an effort to distract from the ongoing FBI investigation of Donald Trump’s campaign and its potential —or now confirmed by The Washington Post and other reports —ties to Russia. That’s what this is about. This is, as I said, an orchestrated effort to distract the American people.”

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